Cohort: POLS 42

Topic of the thesis: X Doing Justice to Structures. The Operationalization of Structural Justice 

Abstract: This project aims to systematize an operational account of structural justice. It unfolds in four stages. First, it reconstructs the debate on structural injustice to clarify its scope, distinctive contribution, and normative ambiguities, thereby motivating a shift from a diagnosis of structural vulnerability to a positive account of justice. Second, it specifies the social ontology underpinning structural justice by combining critical realism with an analytic account of social structures informed by rational choice theory. Third, it develops the operational building blocks of structural justice by positing (i) capabilities as its metric, (ii) relational equality as its normative baseline, specified in terms of navigational agency, and (iii) temporal, spatial, material, and symbolic axes as its operational framework. Finally, the project addresses questions of power and develops a normative taxonomy of social agents to articulate a role-sensitive account of responsibility. By combining social theory with normative reconstruction, the project aims to provide a framework for implementing justice within social structures while preserving pluralism, social cohesion, and individual flourishing, as well as offering conceptual tools for institutional design, policymaking, and social transformation.

Research interests: Normative political philosophy; Theories of justice; Oppression, domination and equality; Social structures, institutions and agency; Collective responsibility; Power and justification; Critical theory

Graduated from: B.A. University of Bologna; M.A. Utrecht University; M.A. University of Milan 

Degrees obtained: B.A. in Philosophy; M.A. in Applied Ethics; M.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs 

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