Vulnerability theory offers an alternative to social-contract and rights-based paradigms. Beginning with the corporeal body, the theory argues we are inevitably and constantly dependent on social institutions that are generated (and ideally monitored) through law. Accordingly, vulnerability theory argues for a state attentive to the needs of the universally "vulnerable subject."

Based on lectures at Trinity College Dublin that focused on four foundational concepts, this book highlights how vulnerability theory differs from individualistic liberal frameworks.

Calling for a reorientation of law toward a collective responsibility-based approach, it is essential reading for anyone interested in political theory, social justice, and sociolegal scholarship.

Martha Albertson Fineman is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science and a Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University. An award winning scholar, she is the Founding Director of both the Feminism and Legal Theory Project and the Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative.