Credibility Excess and Social Support Criterion

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This article refers to:

Should Lack of Social Support Prevent Access to Organ Transplantation?

Notes

1. This description of testimonial injustice follows that of Jose Medina rather than the more narrowly circumscribed description offered in Miranda Fricker’s initial characterization.

2. Marginalization comes in many forms and involves many intersections, e.g. ethnic minority groups and women in the U.S., those with low socioeconomic status (van Rye and Burke 2000), patients in healthcare settings (Carel and Kidd 2017).

3. These points are independent of Berry, Daniels, and Ladin’s observation that since individuals from marginalized communities—due to economic marginalization and mass incarceration—often rely on social support codified as “less robust” than social support found among members of non-marginalized communities they are disadvantaged when providing evidence of social support (Berry, Daniels, Ladin 2019, 12). Credibility discounting and excess described here are independent of the type of evidence offered, though they may exacerbate disadvantages experienced by marginalized individuals and advantages by non-marginalized individuals.