Beyond Empathy and Inclusion
The Challenge of Listening in Democratic Deliberation
Published on 7. November 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
232 pages
978-0-19-775741-3 (ISBN)
Description
Political theorists often see deliberation--understood as communication and debate among citizens--as a fundamental act of democratic citizenship. In other words, the legitimacy of a decision is not simply a function of the number of votes received, but the quality of the deliberation that precedes voting. Efforts to enhance the quality of deliberation have focused on designing more inclusive deliberative procedures or encouraging citizens to be more internally reflective or empathetic. But the adequacy of such efforts remains questionable.
Beyond Empathy and Inclusion aims to better understand the prospects of democracy in a world where citizens are often uninterested or unwilling to engage across social distance and disagreement. Specifically, the book considers how our practices of listening affect the quality and democratic potential of deliberation. Mary F. Scudder offers a systematic theory of listening acts to explain the democratic force of listening. Modeled after speech act theory, Scudder's listening act theory shows how we do something in the act of listening, independent of the outcomes of this act. In listening to our fellow citizens, we recognize their moral equality of voice. Being heard by our fellow citizens is what ensures we have a say in the laws to which we are held.
The book also tackles timely questions regarding the limits of toleration and listening in a democratic society. Do we owe listening even to democracy's enemies? After all, a virtue of democratic citizenship is the ability to resist political movements that seek to destroy democracy. Despite these challenges and risks, Scudder shows that listening is a key responsibility of democratic citizenship, and examines how listening can be used defensively to protect against threats to democracy. While listening is admittedly difficult, especially in pluralist societies, this book investigates how to motivate citizens to listen seriously, attentively, and humbly, even to those with whom they disagree.
Beyond Empathy and Inclusion aims to better understand the prospects of democracy in a world where citizens are often uninterested or unwilling to engage across social distance and disagreement. Specifically, the book considers how our practices of listening affect the quality and democratic potential of deliberation. Mary F. Scudder offers a systematic theory of listening acts to explain the democratic force of listening. Modeled after speech act theory, Scudder's listening act theory shows how we do something in the act of listening, independent of the outcomes of this act. In listening to our fellow citizens, we recognize their moral equality of voice. Being heard by our fellow citizens is what ensures we have a say in the laws to which we are held.
The book also tackles timely questions regarding the limits of toleration and listening in a democratic society. Do we owe listening even to democracy's enemies? After all, a virtue of democratic citizenship is the ability to resist political movements that seek to destroy democracy. Despite these challenges and risks, Scudder shows that listening is a key responsibility of democratic citizenship, and examines how listening can be used defensively to protect against threats to democracy. While listening is admittedly difficult, especially in pluralist societies, this book investigates how to motivate citizens to listen seriously, attentively, and humbly, even to those with whom they disagree.
Reviews / Votes
While the idea of listening has always been on the deliberative agenda, research has failed to come up with a comprehensive concept of what listening exactly means and how we should capture it empirically. Scudder? s book finally closes this important research gap. In this must-read book, she provides us with a convincing normative conception which delimits good listening from consensus-seeking. And she develops an empirical approach which combines external and perception-based measurement strategies in a very smart way. * Andre Baechtiger, University of Stuttgart * Beyond Empathy and Inclusion makes an original and timely contribution to the literature on deliberative democracy through its careful elaboration of the vital and difficult role of listening in democratic politics. Scudder's impressive combination of normative deliberative theory, empirical political science, communication scholarship, and social psychology opens up fertile new directions for the theory and practice of democratic politics today. I hope we possess the wisdom to listen to her. * Mark E. Button, University of Nebraska-Lincoln * What is the point of inclusion if we are not listening to each other? Scudder offers a powerful defense of the centrality of norms of listening for any democratic society. These norms need to teach us how to acknowledge and respond to difference, not erase or bridge that difference. Beyond Empathy and Inclusion sheds important new light on the struggle to achieve equal citizenship. * Simone Chambers, University of California, Irvine * Beyond Empathy and Inclusion presses us to think about democratic deliberation - and democracy itself - in more capacious ways. As important as institutions, procedures, speech, and reason are to deliberative decision-making, Scudder shows that listening is 'what supplies deliberation with its democratic force.' The art of listening, especially in contexts of difference and disagreement, is an essential practice of democratic citizenship without which freedom remains elusive, not only the freedom of others but our own as well. Insightfully conceived and cogently argued, this book skillfully shows deliberative theory how to 'listen toward democracy'. * Sharon R. Krause, Brown University *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
340 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-775741-3 (9780197757413)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Mary F. Scudder is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Purdue University. Mary (Molly) Scudder is also an Associate of the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra, Australia. Her research focuses on democratic deliberation, difference, and exclusion, and has been published in Polity and Political Studies.
Content
1. The Challenge of Listening
2. The Insufficiency of Inclusion and the Need for Uptake
3. Empathy as a Strategy and Ideal of Deliberation: The Promise and Perils
4. A Listening-Centered Approach to Democratic Deliberation
5. Listening Toward Democracy
6. Listening for Difference in Democracy
7. Democratic Ideals in a Non-Ideal World
2. The Insufficiency of Inclusion and the Need for Uptake
3. Empathy as a Strategy and Ideal of Deliberation: The Promise and Perils
4. A Listening-Centered Approach to Democratic Deliberation
5. Listening Toward Democracy
6. Listening for Difference in Democracy
7. Democratic Ideals in a Non-Ideal World