Abstract

Theories of moral responsibility have often assumed that praise does not require justification in the way that blame might. In line with recent accounts, this article argues that praise does require such justification. Oppressive praise is an erroneous attribution of moral or normative responsibility that contributes to the production and reproduction of oppressive and dominating structures. This article provides a taxonomy of oppressive praising practices. Oppressive praise will track and enforce oppressive norms. It can be categorized into that which misrecognizes an agent as either (1) less deserving of praise (“underrecognition”) or (2) more deserving of praise (“overrecognition”) than would be consistent with nonoppressive norms. Two further normative concerns are addressed: first, the conditions under which disingenuous praise will be oppressive; and second, where issues of standing to praise do and do not arise.