Democratic Equality Research Articles

롤즈의 정의론과 교육 민주주의적 평등을 중심으로

한국 사회에서 교육의 공정성은 중요한 사회적 가치다. 교육과 교육의 일부인 입시와 관련한 논란이 제기될 때마다 중요한 판단 척도로 언급되는 가치는 공정성이며 이론적 토대로 제시되는 논의가 롤즈(John Rawls)의 정의론이다. 왜냐하면, 롤즈는 자신의 정의론을 공정으로서의 정의(justice as fairness)라고 명명하여 공정성의 중요성을 강조하기 때문이다. 그런데 롤즈의 공정성 개념을 활용하여 제시되는 한국 사회에서의 교육 정책 논의는 롤즈의 논의를 제대로 반영하고 있는지 의문시된다. 왜냐하면, 롤즈의 논의를 교육에 적용하는 과정에서 체계적이고 종합적인 롤즈 논의를 공정한 기회균등(fair equality of opportunity) 원칙이나 공정성개념 부분에만 국한하여 제시함으로 오해를 야기하는 것으로 보이기 때문이다. 따라서 본 논문의 목적은 롤즈의 정의론이 말하는 교육에서의 공정성 실현이 무엇이며, 정의론의 공정성 논의가 교육에 어떻게 기여할 수 있는지를 검토하고자 한다. 공정한 기회균등이 사회 구성원의 자존감 함양을 통한 평등한 사회적 지위 보장과 자아실현에 기여한다고 할 때, 교육에서는 이를 위한 최소한의 교육 성취를 목표로 하는 보편 교육을 지지하는 입장 그리고 재능과 능력의 다양성과 탁월성(excellency)을 인정하는 교육을 지지하는 입장이 롤즈 논의를 토대로 공존할 것으로 보인다. 왜냐하면, 공정한 기회균등 원칙은 사회 구성원이 민주적 시민으로서 사회적 지위를 보장할 뿐만 아니라, 자신의 재능과 능력을 충분히 발휘할 수 있는 실질적 기회를 제공해야 한다고 주장하기 때문이다. 교육에 있어서 공정한 기회균등은 사회적 우연성의 영향력을 제거할 수 있지만, 자연적 우연성에는 무기력하여 천부적 재능과 능력이 있는 사람들이 교육 혜택을 향유할 수 있게 한다. 그러나 차등원칙(difference principle)은 이러한 교육 혜택이 사회적, 경제적 혜택으로 전이되지 못하게 함으로써 자연적 우연성의 영향으로 인한 불평등을 합당한 수준으로 제한하여 실력주의 사회(meritocratic society)가 아닌 민주주의적 평등(democratic equality)의 공정한 사회를 추구하게 한다. 이러한 롤즈 교육 논의가 한국 사회에서 교육이 어떤 방향으로 공정성을 확보해야 하는지에 대한 이정표가 되길 기대한다.

Inadequate for democracy: How (not) to distribute education

There is widespread agreement among philosophers and legal scholars that the distribution of educational resources in the US is unjust, but little agreement about why. An increasingly prominent view posits a sufficientarian standard based on the requirements of democratic citizenship. This view, which I refer to as democratic sufficientarianism, argues that inequalities in educational resources or opportunities above the threshold required for democratic citizenship are morally unobjectionable if and only if all children are provided with an education sufficient to meet those demands. In the article, I argue that democratic sufficientarianism faces a democratic education dilemma. Either the philosopher specifies a precise and demanding threshold with antidemocratic implications, or she insists upon democratic equality irrespective of educational achievements, thereby undercutting the search for anything but a minimal educational threshold. As an alternative, I defend a new sufficientarian standard that is reflexive, education-specific, and democracy-compatible. This reflexive sufficientarian standard can act as a guide to democratic deliberation about education policy. The article also sketches possibilities for litigation on behalf of children who have received insufficient primary education.

Dualidad y disonancia en la gestión de las cooperativas de trabajo

El cooperativismo de trabajo es uno de los principales exponentes de la Democracia Económica en cuanto a elaboraciones teóricas y realizaciones prácticas. En este sentido, las cooperativas de trabajo se conciben como las organizaciones en donde, a partir de la propiedad común por parte de los trabajadores, se materializa un manejo económico igualitario basado en el principio "una persona, un voto”, con independencia del capital aportado. No obstante, a la hora de llevar a la práctica este ideal surgen incongruencias, ya que, si bien el espacio de gobernanza y delimitación estratégica –la Asamblea de socios– funciona de esta manera, la mayoría de los restantes ámbitos de la gestión suelen adoptar el típico esquema de cadena de mando burocrática, dado que los arreglos en clásicas relaciones de autoridad se consideran elementos ineludibles a la hora de lograr coordinación en el trabajo diario. Surge así la Disonancia Cooperativa, concepto referido al carácter dual y contradictorio del conjunto de experiencias laborales, que van desde los encuentros asamblearios con igualdad democrática hasta los procesos de trabajo cotidiano con autocracia y desigualdad en la distribución del poder decisorio. El planteo de esta disonancia en la gestión de las cooperativas de trabajo, sus efectos y los posibles enfoques superadores representan el principal aporte de este artículo.

Hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses in science education scholarship from the perspective of post-critical curricular theories

Although in-depth educational reviews can be carried out building on curricular theories, the appropriation of this knowledge by science education scholarship can still be considered timid. In this paper, our intention is to work on this interface; we first introduce basic concepts from the main curricular frameworks and bring possible corresponding curricular emphases assumed by science education. Then, we highlight the post-critical curricular perspectives to problematize discursive demands and articulations as part of processes of struggle for the fixation of particular meanings in the field of science education. With emphasis on discourse theory and categories such as discourse, articulation, hegemony and antagonism, we sought to identify hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses defended in the struggle for curricular proposals of science education and teacher-training in Brazilian scholarship and in some international examples. In our analysis, the traditional and critical conceptions of science education were discursively identified as antagonist, in a scenario of uncertainties and lack of fundamentals, without, therefore, either one being able to represent a single and definitive intervention. Traditional curricular and teacher-training projects were seen as products of discursive articulations in defense of the universalism of West Modern Science (knowledge itself) and of the technical rationality. Scientific literacy with a social function and a critical teacher-training proposal were identified as antagonist to traditional curricular discourses and approximated to educational perspectives that defend more generic and contextual educational competences (knowledge to do something). However, recent curricular discourses adequate to the new configurations of social organization that tend to blur the antagonism between these discourses in the name of social justice and democratic equality, from a post-critical point of view, create a paradox: If these demands are treated as prescription and control, they will expel all differences and uniqueness of education, rendering meaningless education, justice and democracy, which are constructs that require alterity to exist in the social.

Democratic equality and militant democracy

Democratic equality and militant democracy

Mexico 2018: An Opportunity for Popular Constitutionalism

In 2018 Mexicans chose the most profound political change since the transition to democracy, leaving behind what in another work I have called authoritarian constitutionalism. The alternation has meant a change of regime in which a social transformation is announced. The transformation can take different paths and must be accompanied by ideas that inspire it. In this frame of mind, popular constitutionalism can be a useful theory in order for the transformation to take a democratic, participative and egalitarian direction, since it fosters political participation and democratic equality. It is time to forego the elitist theories of constitutional law and the minimalist understandings of democracy.

Equality, Efficiency, and Developmental Education Reform: The Impact of SB 1720 on the Mission of the Florida College System.

ObjectiveCommunity colleges have long made higher education more accessible to students from diverse academic backgrounds, particularly those who are academically underprepared and require remediation. In light of developmental education (DE) reform, our article answers the following questions: How do campus personnel articulate the unique mission of Florida’s state colleges, formerly known as community colleges? Furthermore, how do they perceive the mandates of reform to have shaped their ability to carry out this mission?MethodThis work is based on an embedded case study of 10 Florida College System institutions. Qualitative data were gathered between 2014 and 2018 from 544 college presidents, administrators, faculty, staff through 92 focus groups and 8 interviews.ResultsCampus personnel strongly affirmed the mission of the Florida Colleges System as one of democratic equality. However, many were concerned that DE reform, namely Senate Bill 1720, prioritized efficiency over equality in the pursuit of cost savings. Specifically, participants expressed frustration that reforms accelerated DE coursework to an unmanageable pace and ignored the presence of a digital divide. Opinions of DE reform improved in the 4 years following implementation, but some concern persisted.ContributionsOur findings highlight the centrality of democratic equality to the community college mission for campus personnel. They also suggest that equality and efficiency need not always be opposing goals in education reform. Finally, they call into question social policy that universally promotes accelerated and computer-based courses without considering that some students may require accommodations.

The Swedish Sonderweg in Question: Democratization and Inequality in Comparative Perspective, c.1750–1920*

During the twentieth century, Sweden became known as a country with an unusually egalitarian distribution of income and wealth, an encompassing welfare state, and an exceptionally strong social democracy. It is commonplace among historians and social scientists to consider these equal outcomes of the twentieth century as the logical end result of a much longer historical trajectory of egalitarianism, from early modern free peasant farmers or from a peculiar Swedish political culture that was egalitarian and consensus-oriented. This article questions the Swedish interpretation of Sonderweg. In 1900, Sweden had some of the most unequal voting laws in western Europe, and more severe economic inequality than the United States. This throws the purported continuity from early modern equality to social democratic equality into question. The roots of twentieth-century Swedish egalitarianism lie in exceptionally well-organized popular movements after 1870, with a strong egalitarian counter-hegemonic culture and unusually broad popular participation in politics. (Less)

“Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me”: Rethinking the Humanities (in Times of) Crisis

ABSTRACT This essay reflects on the connection between the Humanities and democracy with the aim of formulating an alternative critique that does not confuse democracy with nor concedes it to oligarchy, that does not exclusively reside in academic culture, and that does not elide cultural difference and translation. While agreeing with Martha Nussbaum that there should be strong ties between humanistic inquiry and democratic sensibilities, this essay conceives of that relationship differently: not (Nussbaum's) “democracy needs the Humanities” but rather the Humanities need democracy. Toward that goal, the essay rethinks cultural critique alongside Jacques Rancière's radical vision of democratic equality and interprets an image by photojournalist Raffy Lerma that reframes Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. Lerma's photograph serves as a litmus test for the protocols of reading as well as a limit-case forcing both democracy and the Humanities to revisit their vaunted capacity, in Nussbaum's terms, to cultivate the imagination, enrich meaning, and educate for global citizenship.

Democratic equality: An egalitarian defense of political mediation

Democratic equality: An egalitarian defense of political mediation

Towards Robust Hybrid Democracy in Scandinavian Municipalities?

This article calls for the development of democratic hybrids that combine elements of representative democracy with elements of participatory and deliberative democracy. It presents and evaluates an empirical model of hybrid democracy from a Danish municipality and tests whether the positive Danish experiences can be transferred to a Norwegian municipality with less favorable local conditions. The finding is that the hybrid model of democracy is relatively robust in the face of context variation, not least due to conducive local dynamics in the Norwegian case. The relative robustness of the so‐called ‘Gentofte model’ may stimulate its diffusion in countries sharing key elements of the Scandinavian model and inspire municipalities in other countries to experiment with the development of hybrid democracy. The diffusion of hybrid democracy helps to enhance the overall performance of local democracy and reduce the inherent tension between democratic leadership and democratic equality.

Elizabeth Anderson interviewed by John White

The distinguished US philosopher Elizabeth Anderson, who teaches at the University of Michigan, answers questions put to her by John White about educational aspects of her work in moral and political philosophy. She begins by describing her indebtedness to Dewey in his views on developing students’ capacities for intelligent enquiry and as citizens in a democracy. She elaborates on this in her emphasis on children learning fraternally together with others of diverse class, racial and ethnic backgrounds. She also discusses the control of education, looking at the role of the state and other political authorities in education, the charter school movement and home schooling. Well-known for her views on democratic equality (as distinct from equality of fortune) and on an adequacy criterion of fairness, she shows how these ideas apply to education for a democratic society. This takes her into critical discussions of equality of educational opportunity, education as a positional good, and the rich variety of educational aims fitting a democracy of equals. Anderson has also written about the errors of theistic religion as well as two award-winning recent books on the imperative of social integration and on the authoritarian powers of employers. Developing these thoughts in an educational direction, she writes here about religious and moral education, problems with assimilationist and multicultural approaches to schooling, and preparation for work as an educational aim.

Type of education and civic and political attitudes

In addition to increasing cognitive skills and preparing students for the labour market, one of the core tasks of education is to prepare citizens for participation in democracy. Considering the ideal of democratic equality, it is important to know the degree to which civic outcomes of education are distributed equally. One feature of the education system that can lead to differential civic outcomes is tracking, that is, the sorting of students into different types of education. In this study, we examine the relationship between type of education (general/academic or vocational) and five attitudinal dimensions of civic and political engagement between the ages of 14 and 49 years in the Netherlands. By using panel data from the Netherlands Longitudinal Lifecourse Study (n = 5,312) and applying linear fixed effects models, we can observe the effect of a transition in the type of education on the within‐person change in our outcome variables. The findings demonstrate that transitions in the type of education have little effect on intention to vote, trust in institutions or ethnic tolerance. However, students making transitions in general/academic education develop higher levels of interest in politics and generalised trust than do students in vocational education or people outside the education system. This point suggests that general/academic education fosters civic and political participation.

Responsibility for Violence

This paper critically examines violence, and our shared responsibility for it. Drawing on insights from Jean-Paul Sartre, I develop the correlation between scarcity and violence, emphasizing scarcity as agential lack that results from conditions of oppression and domination. In order to develop this correlation between scarcity and violence, I examine the racial dimension of violence in the U.S. Following this analysis, I claim that we all share responsibility for the social structural processes in which we participate that produce scarcity. On these grounds, I argue for the imperative of democratic equality, i.e., conditions for the self-development and self-determination of all.

This Train Has Left the Station: The German Gender Equality Regime on Course Towards a Social Democratic Model (2013–17)

Based on a concept of gender equality regimes that combines measures for employment, care work, and anti-discrimination, we analyse how Germany has continued to shift from a conservative to a social democratic gender regime from 2013 to 2017. We contend first, that the reform agenda in family policy continuously changed and is now geared towards a social democratic gender regime. Secondly, we observe diffusion processes and increased social democratisation of related policy areas such as employment, anti-discrimination and gender variance. Thirdly, we argue that the parliamentary consensus for egalitarian gender policies has opened up a strategic terrain for right-wing opposition and new forms of political polarisation. Empirically, we draw on an analysis of party manifestos, the coalition agreement between the Union parties (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), as well as political reforms in the fields of family policy, gender equality on the labour market, and anti-discrimination for sexual minorities. Our review shows that there has been a tangible shift towards a social democratic gender equality regime in all three policy fields. At the same time, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) on the far right became the new populist voice of parliamentary opposition against this reform agenda.

Artificial Intelligence and Role-Reversible Judgment

Intelligent machines increasingly outperform human experts, raising the question of when (and why) humans should remain ‘in the loop’ of decision-making. One common answer focuses on outcomes: relying on intuition and experience, humans are capable of identifying interpretive errors — sometimes disastrous errors — that elude machines. Though plausible today, this argument will wear thin as technology evolves. In this Article, we seek out sturdier ground: a defense of human judgment that focuses on the normative integrity of decision-making. Specifically, we propose an account of democratic equality as ‘role-reversibility.’ In a democracy, those tasked with making decisions should be susceptible, reciprocally, to the impact of decisions; there ought to be a meaningful sense in which the participants’ roles in the decisional process could always be inverted. Role-reversibility infuses the act of judgment with a ‘there but for the grace of god’ dynamic and, in doing so, casts judgment as the result of self-rule. After defending role-reversibility in concept, we show how it bears out in the paradigm case of criminal jury trials. Although it was not the historical impetus behind the jury trial — at least, not in any strong sense — we argue that role-reversibility explains some of the institution’s core features and stands among the best reasons for its preservation. Finally, for the sci-fi enthusiasts among us, role-reversibility offers a prescription as to when the legal system will be ready for robo-jurors and robo-judges: when it incorporates robo-defendants.

Transparency as a justification for legislative supremacy

ABSTRACT While most arguments for legislative supremacy are grounded on a procedural account of democratic equality, others appeal not to the abstract qualities of legislative process but rather to the mystifying or non-transparent nature of judicial review itself. In this paper, I aim to excavate and clarify what we understand by the non-transparent nature of constitutional-rights jurisprudence, compared with legislative decisions concerning rights. Most commonly, critical and Marxist scholars understand judicial review as a mystifying practice in which contrived ‘legal’ modes of reasoning obscure the ideologies, interests or policies that constitute the real grounds of decision. That is to say, judicial reasoning obscures interests that are extraneous or antecedent to law, however, these might be understood. However, drawing on Pierre Bourdieu, I will argue that while judicial review can be understood as a quintessentially esoteric and thus as a dominating practice, its doctrinal artifice is nonetheless irreducible to interests that are antecedent to law itself. Rather, it generates forms of symbolic and social capital that are peculiar to law as a semi-autonomous social ‘field’. Nonetheless, non-transparency of this kind can be understood as an important kind of political domination that can support the argument for legislative supremacy

Paridad y justicia de género. Algunas reflexiones críticas sobre las políticas de igualdad en España

En la última década España se convirtió en un referente a nivel internacional en materia de políticas de igualdad de género. Sin embargo, la crisis económica ha provocado un aumento de desigualdad, lo que ha puesto de manifiesto la debilidad de los instrumentos adoptados. A pesar de la abundante legislación en esta materia, la realidad social no ha cambiado del todo, incluso se han producido evidentes retrocesos en los últimos años. Esta situación fue puesta de manifiesto en el Informe realizado en 2015 por el Comité de Naciones Unidas para la Eliminación de la discriminación contra la Mujer (CEDAW). Por lo tanto, es urgente revisar el concepto de mainstreaming de género y la adopción de instrumentos de “hard law”. El objetivo debe ser alcanzar una justicia de género basada en tres elementos —identidad, redistribución y participación— y una real democracia paritaria.

COMBINING DEMOCRATIC EQUALITY AND LUCK EGALITARIANISM

The concept of responsibility plays a crucial part in the debate between proponents of democratic equality, like Rawls, and defenders of luck egalitarianism, such as Dworkin. In this paper it is argued that the two theories can be combined, and that they should be combined to achieve a theory of justice that puts personal responsibility in its proper place. The concept of justice requires two different conceptions. The two theories can be combined because they deal with different problems of justice. They ought to be combined because, first, luck egalitarianism needs a theory of background justice, and second, a theory of justice must supply an answer to the question of just individual allocations, something that is not provided by democratic equality. Democratic equality and luck egalitarianism solve each other’s problems. The combined theory will lead to allocations of goods that respect both the difference principle and the envy test.

La deseable composición paritaria del Tribunal Constitucional: una propuesta de reforma constitucional

Resumen:La progresiva pérdida de prestigio y autoridad del Tribunal Constitucional es consecuencia, entre otros motivos, de un proceso de nombramiento y selecciónde sus magistrados ciertamente discutibles. Si bien los principales remedios a dicha situación deban venir más de la cultura política que de la ingeniería jurídica, también es cierto que determinadas carencias reclaman simplemente el efectivo cumplimiento de los mandatos legales. Así sucede con el mandato de equilibrio de sexos que la LO 3/2007 dispone para los poderes públicos y que el TC no ha teniendo en cuenta en ninguna de sus renovaciones. Un mandato que deriva a su vez de la necesidad de interpretar nuestro sistema constitucional en términos de democracia paritaria.Abstract:The progressive loss of prestige and authority of the Constitutional Court is a consequence, among other reasons, of a certainly debatable process of appointment and selection of its judges. Although the main remedies to this situation must come more from the political culture than from legal engineering, it is also true that certain deficiencies simply demand the effective compliance with legal mandates. This is the case with the mandate of «gender balance» that the LO 3/2007 provides for the public authorities and that the Constitutional Court has not taken into account in any of its renewals. A mandate that derives from the need to interpret our constitutional system in terms of parity democracy.Summary:1. Introduction: Legal Engineering vs. Political Culture. 2. The appointment of men and women judges. 3. The composition of the Constitutional Court from the point of view of Gender. 4. Conclusions and Proposals.