Social equality and the conditional justifiability of political inequality

Social or relational egalitarians try to defend democracy non-instrumentally as a constitutive element of a society where no one stands as inferior or superior to anyone else. However, they face an instrumentalist challenge from within: Why not uphold a non-democratic regime if it outperforms democr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPolitics, philosophy & economics Vol. 23; no. 3; pp. 252 - 272
Main Author Kobayashi, Takuto
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.08.2024
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Democracy
Equality
Inequality
Politics
Social relations
ideal and non-ideal theory
social equality
epistocracy
democracy's value
political equality
political non-instrumentalism versus instrumentalism
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Summary:Social or relational egalitarians try to defend democracy non-instrumentally as a constitutive element of a society where no one stands as inferior or superior to anyone else. However, they face an instrumentalist challenge from within: Why not uphold a non-democratic regime if it outperforms democracy in protecting or promoting egalitarian social relations, for example, by stably producing substantive political decisions that guard against social hierarchies? This article explores the best response to this challenge from the social egalitarian non-instrumentalist standpoint. It argues that the instrumentalist challenge can be accommodated without abandoning the essential non-instrumentalist commitment to democracy; while a nondemocratic regime may be justified under less-than-ideal circumstances as a contingently effective means to realize more social equality, democracy can nevertheless be viewed as a necessary condition for the realization of full social equality.
ISSN:1470-594X
1741-3060
DOI:10.1177/1470594X231215782