Abstract

Victims of discriminated are often disadvantaged. Are they necessarily disadvantaged? Many say so: “in discriminating against someone, one is necessarily acting to the disadvantage of that someone” (Gardner 2018: 67); “discrimination against someone simply is disadvantageous differential treatment” (Lippert-Rasmussen 2013: 15). The connection between discrimination and disadvantage is also supposed to play two significant explanatory roles. That you are disadvantaged by the differential treatment of you and me is meant to explain why it was discrimination against you rather than me; and that discrimination necessarily involves disadvantage is meant to unify direct and indirect discrimination. Drawing on cases from the opioid epidemic, I aim to challenge this received view about the connection between discrimination and disadvantage.