Behind the 1970s feminist idea of ‘a right to choice’ when it came to motherhood was the argument that no one should be compelled to pick this solution – abortion – for themselves; the law now simply ensured that everybody could, as needed, determine which of the possibilities on offer seemed like the best option by their own criteria. Plus, having... See more

sociologists add that societies that prize choice too much tend to blame those with only poor or limited options for their own misfortunes. So much for choice as consistently synonymous with freedom.

In other words, in feminists’ enthusiasm for having choices, the moral dimension of what was being chosen had been pushed to the side, leaving behind a very thin foundation for a major policy matter. And from the Left, and especially from Black feminists, came the argument that choice itself was meaningless, an empty promise, unless it was to be... See more

In the past, for example, freedom has sometimes been imagined as a release from oppression or as an act of pure imagination, alternative visions we might want to bring back into circulation. As it turns out, choice doesn’t always produce freedom, and freedom itself often looks very different.

Philosophers and political theorists say it promotes selfish individualism and discourages collective action around issues that affect us all. And sociologists add that societies that prize choice too much tend to blame those with only poor or limited options for their own misfortunes. So much for choice as consistently synonymous with freedom.

As a result of democracy-promotion and global capitalism, almost no one in the world currently stands entirely outside the choice-as-freedom paradigm; it has gradually enveloped even those with very limited ability or opportunity to choose or with only rotten choices before them.