Libertarianism and Privilege

Abstract

Libertarians often justify class privilege and gender privilege by pointing to that fact that when the privileged party benefits, it is not the result of said party’s coercing the disadvantaged. However when we broaden the lens of our enquiry to looking not only at whether proximate coercion exists in social relations, but if it had a role in creating the conditions under which parties voluntarily assent to exploitative relationships, we get a far richer analysis of privilege. State coercion is essential to maintaining division between those with and those without access to the means of production. Likewise, rape is essential to maintaining men’s material leverage over women. In both cases libertarians often overlook the most pervasive effects of violations of the non-aggression principle, but they need not and should not.

Keywords: Libertarianism, Privilege, Spontaneous Order

JEL Classification: P16