Connected by Commitment: Oppression and Our Responsibility to Undermine It (UK)

By Nathaniel Ottah

Saying that political and social oppression is a deeply unjust and widespread condition of life is not a terribly controversial statement. Likewise, theorists of justice frequently consider our obligation to not turn a blind eye to oppression. But what is our culpability in the endurance of oppression?

In this book, Mara Marin complicates the primary ways in which we make sense of human and political relationships and our obligations within them. Rather than thinking of relationships in terms of our intentions, Marin thinks of them as open-ended and subject to ongoing commitments. Commitments create open-ended expectations and vulnerabilities on the part of others, and therefore also obligations. By this rationale, our actions sustain oppressive or productive structures in virtue of their cumulative effects, not the intentions of the actors.When we violate our obligations we oppress others.

Over the chapters of her book, Marin applies her model of commitment to caregivers, marriage, and bargaining power between labor and employers, and examines three types of social relations: political-legal relations, intimate relations of care, and work relations. By linking habitual action to obligation, Marin argues that we should see our responsibilities within such relationships as political and as creating norms for behavior over time. Commitment both points to the support our actions give to oppressive structures and to the ways in which our actions can weaken the same structures. Connected by Commitment examines our obligations to transform structures of oppression and offers commitment as a model for solidarity across race, gender, and class.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0190498625
• ISBN13: 9780190498627
• Release Date: October 2017
• Publisher: Oxford Univ PR
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.9" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Dr Pat Allen is essential reading

Dr. Pat Allen's communication model ensures relationship success through the promotion and maintenance of intimacy. The model is usable regardless of gender.

Great Book---Really!!!

Whoever is reading these reviews will see some negative reviews. DO NOT BELIEVE THEM! This book has some VERY good "insights" into how male/female relations work. Thus you will learn "how to adjust" any relationship so that there will be greater harmony and compatibility in your relationship and/or marriage. Please read it with an open mind and with the idea that roles can be changed and "alternated"---the male/female...

Still married and loving it!

My husband and I were on the verge of divorce a year ago, and now we can't get enough of each other.. all because of this book! The title is misleading because it's not a book for the wife.. the husband needs to read it as well for this to work. I recommend it to everyone struggling with marital roles and the confusion and frustration that comes with it. It's smart and realistic and it works! Skip the sexist comments - they...

A fun read -- and shocking advice that actually works!

I have read many books on communication, and many books on how to be even happier in interpersonal relationships, and I can honestly say that Staying Married... is the best, and most helpful, one I have ever read. Don't expect sweet-sounding advice that doesn't really work -- this book gives you the real deal. The section entitled "How To Get What You Want From Your Man Without Asking" is amazing. After reading it, I...