Iris Marion Young's term for injustice that arises when social processes put large categories of people under a systematic threat of domination or deprivation, without being reducible to the wrongful acts of particular individuals or policies.
In more detail
Young illustrated the idea with a single mother pushed towards homelessness by the ordinary operation of housing markets, rules and employment. Because many people contribute to such outcomes through legitimate actions, she proposed a 'social connection model' of responsibility: shared, forward-looking and discharged through collective action, rather than backward-looking liability. The concept is applied to supply chains, climate change and algorithmic discrimination. Critics worry that responsibility spread so widely becomes diffuse.