Representative Democracy and Social Equality

Bibliographic Data

ID3765746
AuthorsIngham (0000-0002-7581-707X, University of California San Diego, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume116
Issue2
Pages689-701
Publication date2022-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s000305542100109x
OpenAlexW3202129481
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited52

When are inequalities in political power undemocratic, and why? While some writers condemn any inequalities in political power as a deviation from the ideal of democracy, this view is vulnerable to the simple objection that representative democracies concentrate political power in the hands of elected officials rather than distributing it equally among citizens, but they are no less democratic for it. Building on recent literature that interprets democracy as part of a broader vision of social equality, I argue that concentrations of political power are incompatible with democracy, and with a commitment to social equality more generally, when they consist in some having greater arbitrary power to influence decisions according to their idiosyncratic preferences. A novel account of the relationship between power and social status clarifies the role of social equality in the justification of democracy, including a representative democracy in which public officials have more political power than ordinary citizens

Democracy · Ideal (ethics · Inequality · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Mathematics · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Political Theory and Influence

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