democracy's worth

Another link about word counts...

http://anjo.blogs.com/metis/2004/10/sigmund_on_the_.html

though I strongly believe that intellectuals should engage, i think my comment was really a question about how social change occurs. It seems to me that we must have a theory about this in order to proceed with a theory of democracy b/c if we think that social justice occurs primarily b/c of democratic debate, our democratic theory will lean one way but if we think that social justice occurs by other means, we might theorized democracy differently. Or if we believe its a combination, we might still theorize it differently.

It was a genuine question and I don't proclaim to have an answer.

I also see that I am conflating social change and social justice. That is my goal but I'm not sure it is the basis for everyone's model of democracy; but I guess I question how we can strive for democracy when everyone doesn't have an equal seat at the table? so they seem like twin goals to me. Young & Ziarek offer theories in this direction.

I also think that some of David's comments/points should be picked up here... or there

Camille, I have to be careful too with conflating social change with social justice. Change can also be for less equality or less justice, rather than more. I think there's a rhetorical positioning here that may be similar to the ways conservatives established a negative definition of "political correctness." (Not that I'm clear on exactly how/what it is....%-0

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