Democratic equality cannot exist without a correlate of inequality and exclusion

Evidence

The liberal conception of equality postulates that every person is, as a person, automatically equal to every other person. The democratic conception, however, requires the possibility of distinguishing who belongs to the demos and who is exterior to it: for that reason, it cannot exist without the necessary correlate of inequality. Despite liberal claims. a democracy of mankind. if it was ever likdy, would be a pure abstraction, because equality can exist only through its specific meanings in particular spheres - as political equality, economic equality, and so forth. But those specific equalities always entail, as their very condition of possibility, some form of inequality. — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 173

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precisely distinguishes liberal from democratic equality — the conceptual load-bearing distinction of Schmitt’s argument.
• QUESTION: This is the crux for the reader’s test: if every positive equality entails inequality, can any democratic ‘we’ avoid a permanent excluded Enemy, or only manageable adversaries?
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that equality is only meaningful through its constitutive inequality directly bears on whether a non-exclusionary pluralist ‘we’ is conceivable — sits at the center of the reader’s stated investigation.
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Democracy depends on recognizing politically unequal differences — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2692; Neoliberal rationality makes inequality normal and normative in democracy — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 63; Formal political equality coexisted with birth-determined class inequality in Europe — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 89 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Democracy depends on recognizing politically unequal differences #corroborates (0.90) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2692
• Formal political equality coexisted with birth-determined class inequality in Europe #exemplifies (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 89
• Formal citizenship equality coexists with inequality that provokes social conflict #exemplifies (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 824
• Neoliberal rationality makes inequality normal and normative in democracy #expands (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 63
• Complete political equality requires prior economic equality #contradicts (0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 957
• Racial democracy rendered structural inequality invisible and individualized #expands (0.70)
• Formal democratic liberties rest on an unseen foundation of physical coercion #corroborates (0.70) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 346
• Liberal democratic values are ambiguous and can legitimize domination #expands (0.70) — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 114