Demographic Objections to Epistocracy
A Generalization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6325543 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ingham (0000-0002-7581-707X, Stanford University), David Wiens (0000-0002-2221-0725, Stanford University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 323-349 |
| Publication date | 2021-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy & Public Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0048-3915 • E-ISSN: 1088-4963 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/papa.12199 |
| OpenAlex | W3196158232 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 1 |
Several scholars have recently entertained proposals for "epistocracy," a political regime in which decision-making power is concentrated in the hands of a society's most informed and competent citizens.These proposals rest on the claim that we can expect better political outcomes if we exclude incompetent citizens from participating in political decisions because competent voters are more likely to vote "correctly" than incompetent voters.We develop what we call the objection from selection bias to epistocracy: a procedure that selects voters on the basis of their observed competence-as epistocracy does-will often be "biased" in the sense that competent voters will be, on average, more likely than incompetent voters to possess certain attributes that reduce the probability of voting correctly.Our objection generalizes the "demographic objection" discussed in previous literature, showing that the range of realistic scenarios in which epistocracy is vulnerable to selection bias is substantially broader than previous discussions appreciate.Our discussion also shows that previous discussions have obscured the force of the threat of selection bias.Since we lack reasons to believe that epistocratic proposals can avoid selection bias, we have no reason to seriously entertain epistocracy as a practical proposal.Most democratic citizens appear to be ignorant of crucial facts about the political systems in which they participate, the parties and candidates they vote for, and the policies their leaders enact. 1 They lack the basic knowledge one would need to form reliable judgments about politics.Some scholars trace democracy's ills to these well-known facts about "voter incompetence." 2 Echoing Plato's critique of democracy and Mill's arguments for plural voting, some critics go further to entertain proposals for "epistocracy," a non-democratic regime in which the demonstrably "incompetent" are disfranchised or their decision-making power severely curtailed
Citation · Epistemology · Generalization · Information retrieval · Library science · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Educational Strategies and Epistemologies · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Philosophy
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| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |