>
> In sum: the rhetoric of personal responsibility is of a piece with the
> hyperindividualism of our capitalist society, and it is ideological
> through and through.
>
> Miles
>
>
> ==============
>
> Try this argument in court after you've run a red light while talking on a cell
> phone and kill three people in an intersection with a crosswalk.
>
> Ian
Well, that's my point: this ideology is enforced formally in social institutions such as the courts. --I'm not making a moral argument here; I'm just pointing out that the trope of personal responsibility justifies social inequalities. Note that it's a big jump from that observation to some moral dictum (e.g., "people shouldn't be held responsible for their behavior").
Miles