Cover not available

In:Advances in Interdisciplinary Language Policy
Edited by François Grin, László Marácz and Nike K. Pokorn
[Studies in World Language Problems 9] 2022
► pp. 361–380

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 18
Justifying language policies in mobile societies

 | Durham University
 | University of Limerick
Published online: 21 January 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/wlp.9.18car
Abstract
A conception of linguistic justice refers to a set of moral principles that can provide guidance about a society’s language policies. By the lights of a recently prominent strand of liberal political theory, such a conception will be legitimate if and only if it meets certain standards of public justification. Amongst other things, this means that it must be arrived at by way of a legitimate procedure and its principles must be ones that no one could reasonably reject. This chapter explores the potential of this ideal for mobile and multilingual societies in Europe by developing three arguments. First, we argue that in order to be legitimate, a conception of linguistic justice must be justifiable to a relevant constituency and that, in EU member states, this includes mobile Europeans as well as the citizens of member states. Second, we argue that, in circumstances of linguistic diversity, the requirements of public justification generate a presumption in favour of multilingual deliberative procedures. Third, we argue that when selecting principles of justice we ought to prioritise the interests of the least advantaged, and that doing so will often mean that only a multilingual language regime is acceptable.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Mobility and inclusion in linguistic justice
  • 3.Key concepts and tools
  • 4.Liberalism and the justification of language policies
    • 4.1To whom must a conception of linguistic justice be justified?
    • 4.2What constitutes fair access to public deliberation in multilingual societies?
    • 4.3What normative constraints does contractualism impose on the selection of a language regime?
      • Reasonable rejection and the priority view
      • Assessing the distributive effects of language regimes
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (30)
References
Barry, Brian. (1996). Justice as Impartiality. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bonotti, Matteo. (2016). Political Liberalism, Linguistic Diversity and Equal Treatment. Politics, Philosophy & Economics 13, 189–214.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carens, Joseph. (2000). Culture, Citizenship and Community. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carey, Brian. (2019). The preference satisfaction model of linguistic advantage. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 22(2), 134–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carey. (2020). The Language of Public Reason. Journal of Social Philosophy. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Schutter, Helder. (forthcoming). Linguistic Pluralism.
Fidrmuc, Jan, Ginsburgh, Victor & Weber, Shlomo. (2010). ‘Scenarios beyond unanimity: Could a qualified majority of Member States alleviate the burden of multilingualism in Europe?’, in D. Hanf, K. Malacek & E. Muir (Eds.), Langues et construction européenne (pp. 259–227). Brussels: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gaus, Gerald. (2011). The Order of Public Reason: A Theory of Freedom and Morality in a Diverse and Bounded World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gazzola, Michele. (2016). Multilingual communication for whom? Language policy and fairness in the European Union. European Union Politics 17(4), 546–569. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gazzola, Michele & Ronza, Rocco W. (2018). The Politics and Policy of Multilingualism in the European Union. Brown Journal of World Affairs 25(1), 55–66.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ginsburgh, Victor & Weber, Shlomo. (2005). Language disenfranchisement in the European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies 43(2), 273–286. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grin, François. (2003). ‘Diversity as paradigm, analytical device, and policy goal’, in W. Kymlicka & A. Patten (Eds.), Language Rights and Political Theory (pp. 169–188). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kymlicka, Will. (1995). Multicultural Citizenship. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Laborde, Cécile. (2017). Liberalism’s Religion. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parfit, Derek. (1997). Equality and priority. Ratio 10(3), 202–221. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Patten, Alan. (2014). Equal Recognition: The Moral Foundations of Minority Rights. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peled, Yael. (2018). ‘Toward an Adaptive Approach to Linguistic Justice: Three Paradoxes’, in M. Gazzola, T. Templin & B.-A. Wickstrom (Eds.), Language Policy and Linguistic Justice: Economic, Philosophical and Sociolinguistic Approaches (pp. 173–88). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peled, Yael & Bonotti, Matteo. (2016). Tongue-Tied: Rawls, Political Philosophy and Metalinguistic Awareness. American Political Science Review 110(4), 798–811. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peter, Fabienne. (2017). ‘Political Legitimacy’, in E. N. Zalta (Ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from: [URL] (accessed on 11/2/2021)
Pool, Jonathan. (1991). The official language problem. American Political Science Review 85(2), 495–551. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1996). Optimal language regimes for the European Union. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 121(1), 159–179. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quong, Jonathan. (2011). Liberalism Without Perfection. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rawls, John. (1996). Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1999). A Theory of Justice: Revised Edition. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rubio-Marín, Ruth. (2003). ‘Language rights: Exploring the competing rationales’, in W. Kymlicka & A. Patten (Eds.), Language Rights and Political Theory (pp. 52–73). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scanlon, Thomas. M. (1982). ‘Contractualism and utilitarianism’, in A. Sen & B. Williams (Eds.), Utilitarianism and beyond (pp. 103–128). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1998). What we owe to each other. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shorten, Andrew. (2017). Four Conceptions of Linguistic Disadvantage. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 38, 607–621. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2018). ‘Justice in the Linguistic Environment: Narrow or Wide?’, in M. Gazzola, T. Templin & B.-A. Wickstrom (Eds.), Language Policy and Linguistic Justice: Economic, Philosophical and Sociolinguistic Approaches (pp. 153–72). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Parijs, Phillippe. (2011). Linguistic Justice for All. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Gialdini, Cecilia
2025. Talking over the catastrophe. Language Problems and Language Planning DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue