Nancy Fraser, Scales of Justice: Reimagining Political Space in a Globalizing World (New York: Columbia University Press: 2009), x + 224 pp. Nancy Fraser's Scales of Justices seeks to update critical social theory for today's changed historical context--rapid globalization, the declining importance of the sovereign nation-state, and the rise of new transnational social movements--by providing an outline of the conceptual and empirical resources required for a thoroughly democratic theory of social justice. Combining seven previously published pieces with an introductory chapter and another unpublished piece, the book provides a perspicuous overview of the significant changes and developments in Fraser's recent thinking. The six chapters that comprise the heart of Fraser's theory of justice in a globalizing world will be the main focus of this review. Three other chapters probe the relevance of intellectual currents from the second half of the twentieth century to contemporary sociopolitical realities: namely, second-wave feminism, Arendt's diagnosis of totalitarianism, and Foucault's genealogies of the disciplinary society. Although these three chapters present fascinating case studies and illuminate important areas for further research (particularly the Foucault chapter), they do not carry forward the main lines of Fraser's own theory.
