Suchergebnisse

A dialogue between ideal types of deliberative democrats & activists is presented to highlight shortcomings with deliberative democratic norms & the benefits of nondemocratic practices for democratic theories. Overviews of deliberative democracy & both the motivational factors & objectives of deliberative democrats & activists are presented. Two explanations for deliberative democrats' tendency to condemn activists' political practices are offered. Four complaints filed by activists against deliberative democratic procedures are then addressed: (1) deliberative practices exclude certain individuals & social groups; (2) formal inclusion of individuals & groups in deliberative practices is not enough to overcome structural inequality; (3) certain structural & institutional constraints replace intact through deliberative practices; & (4) structural inequality tends to engender a hegemonic discourse that cover up injustice & abuses of power while producing false consensus. The dialogue's implications for future democratic theory are also considered, eg, the separation of democratic practices & theory within certain structures. J. W. Parker

Many claims of inequality & demands for redress are based on comparisons of groups of individuals, such as men & women or blacks & whites. In this essay, the author asks whether group-conscious practices of assessing inequality are justified &, if so, why. First, she considers political & philosophical challenges to theories & practices that access inequality in terms of social groups. She argues that assessing inequality solely by comparing the status of individuals provides little basis for claims about social justice. A large class of social-justice issues, especially those concerning claims that inequalities are unjust, involve evaluation of institutional relations & processes of society. Evaluating inequality in terms of social groups enables analysts to argue that some inequalities are unjust because such group-based comparisons reveal important aspects of institutional relations & processes. Specifically, identifying inequalities among groups helps identify structural inequalities. The author theorizes structural inequality as a set of reproduced social processes that reinforce one another to facilitate or constrain individual actions. Identifying patterned inequalities on measures of well-being among groups is the first step in identifying forms of basic & persistent injustice. The author concludes by discussing what this means for social policy making. 24 References. A. Funderburg