Democratic Equality Beyond Deliberation

Bibliographic Data

ID3463252
AuthorsJustin Pottle (0000-0001-7870-5527, Loyola University Chicago, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume119
Issue2
Pages905-916
Publication date2025-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003055424000637
OpenAlexW4401259463
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited54

Many theorists believe ideals of deliberation realize democratic equality by ensuring each speaker's influence is commensurate with the strength of the reasons they give. This article argues that view is incomplete. When the frames, interpretations, and concepts speakers bring into debate disproportionately reflect the perspectives of socially advantaged groups, they contribute to hermeneutic injustices that impede marginalized citizens' voice even under the most favorable deliberative rules. In response, I describe the role institutions of mass communication play in shaping the epistemic resources available to deliberators and show how structural biases toward advantaged groups within those institutions generate shared understandings that undermine deliberation's egalitarian potential. Pursuing democratic equality, then, requires not only the fair exchange of reasons but also proactive efforts to identify and correct institutional mechanisms of hermeneutic injustice

Deliberation · Deliberative democracy · Democracy · Economics · Epistemology · Inequality · Injustice · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · Feminist Epistemology and Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Social Media and Politics

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Open DOIOpen Access