The relationship between the individual and the social and political institutions in which he moves and acts, and especially the concepts of justice and freedom that are generated from that relation, are hot topics in contemporary philosophy and central in the thinking of Axel Honneth, main representative of the Frankfurt School and student of Jürgen Habermas. Honneth returns to the bookstore with his work to date most complete and articulated. In this work historical-social and philosophical reflections are woven to frame an important thesis: in a democracy, freedom and justice are not abstract and static concepts, but dynamic and concrete social practices, achievements arising from an initial deprivation and a subsequent claim. Conflicts arising from this struggle for recognition are realized in new social institutions, in tune with the aspirations of the people and with the pluralism of complex societies.