Systemic Injustice and Collective Responsibility

Sor Juana's critique extended beyond individual wrongdoing to systemic patterns: how laws, customs, institutions, and social structures together perpetuate injustice. Corruption is similarly systemic: it is not only individual moral failure but organizational culture, incentive structures, and power arrangements that enable wrongdoing. Recognizing corruption's systemic nature is crucial because it shifts focus from blaming individuals to transforming systems. A single corrupt official may be exposed, but if the systems enabling corruption remain intact, others will fill the role. Sor Juana's approach suggests that fighting corruption requires examining the structures: How do institutions make corruption likely? What incentives reward it? What norms permit it? What power imbalances enable it? Anticorruption work must therefore be collective and structural: changing laws, redesigning processes, shifting cultures, and redistributing power. This is more complex than punishing bad actors, but it is the only approach that creates lasting change. Sor Juana's legacy calls for systemic analysis and collective responsibility.