Why did communitarians challenge John Rawls's veil of ignorance?

Communitarians challenged the John Rawls "veil of ignorance" because they rejected the underlying philosophical assumption that individuals can exist as autonomous, "atomized" beings outside of their social, cultural, and historical contexts.1

In his work A Theory of Justice, Rawls proposed the "veil of ignorance" as a hypothetical state where individuals, stripped of knowledge regarding their own social, economic, or historical circumstances, would choose fair principles of justice. Communitarian thinkers, such as Michael Sandel and Charles Taylor, argued that this concept is fundamentally incoherent. They maintained that:213

• Social Embeddedness: Individual identity is "constituted" or constructed by culture and social relations. There are no generic individuals, only people embedded within specific communities.1
• Impossibility of Abstraction: Because individuals are defined by their social context, it is impossible to formulate rights or interests in total abstraction from that context.1
• Critique of the "Unencumbered Self": Communitarians argued that the "veil of ignorance" relies on a flawed view of the self as existing apart from society, whereas they believe the community is essential to defining the common good and individual identity.13