Challenging unjust rationings of fairness: law, literature and [dystopian] legal fictions

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Abstract

In times of austerity, rationing becomes key. Arguably, in just societies, rationing processes are fairness-led. Medical models – as the pandemic underscored – should be grounded in human dignity, equality, and non-discrimination, but may easily yield to utilitarianism. Humans with the best chances of survival tend to escape the ‘frailty algorithms’ aimed at preserving scarce or finite resources and avoid darker consequences of unwritten policies such as those underpinning ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ (DNR) orders. This paper argues that law is ill-equipped to prevent or highlight the various injustices arising from landscapes of harsh rationing. Rather, works of fiction often serve to raise public awareness, identify inequities, and challenge those holding the ‘purse strings’ of social justice (whether fiscal or conceptual). Looking at forms of ‘fantastic rationing’ found in literature and popular culture (food, information, knowledge, and fairness itself), several works of dystopian fiction are examined: the literal, unjust rationing of food, security and human rights in The Hunger Games is contrasted with the limited allocations of shared memory, human emotion, and inheritable knowledge in both The Giver and Dust (both particularly prescient works given their themes of social isolation and lockdown). Likewise, the fatal inequities that are ‘socially justified’ in Logan’s Run serve to highlight the easy potential for egregious rights violations – and lethal otherings – seen within algorithmic decision-making processes. In sum, calls for law reform, however vocal or impassioned, do not as easily convey the emotional, intergenerational aspects of those ‘unavoidable’ harms that tend to flow from harsh, unjust rationings.

Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 17 Jun 2022
EventThe Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities
24th Annual Conference: Unsettling Law
- Emery University, Atlanta, United States
Duration: 16 Jun 202217 Jun 2022
https://lawculturehumanities.com/event/2022-conference/

Conference

ConferenceThe Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities
24th Annual Conference: Unsettling Law
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAtlanta
Period16/06/202217/06/2022
Internet address

Keywords

  • Social justice
  • rationing
  • human rights
  • dystopian

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