Epistemic solidarity as a political strategy

Goodin, Robert E. and Spiekermann, Kai ORCID: 0000-0003-4983-5589 (2014) Epistemic solidarity as a political strategy. Working paper. Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

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Abstract

Solidarity is supposed to facilitate collective action. We argue that it can also help overcome false consciousness. Groups practice “epistemic solidarity” if they pool information about what is in their true interest and how to vote accordingly. The more numerous “Masses” can in this way overcome the “Elites,” but only if they are minimally confident with whom they share the same interests and only if they are (perhaps only just) better-than-random in voting for the alternative that promotes their interests. Being more cohesive and more competent than the Masses, the “Elites” can employ the same strategy perhaps all the more effectively. But so long as the “Masses” practice “epistemic solidarity” they will almost always win, whether or not the “Elites” do. By enriching the traditional framework of the Condorcet Jury Theorem with group-specific standards of correctness, we investigate how groups can organize to support the alternatives truly in their interests.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL:	http://personal.lse.ac.uk/spiekerk/Publications.ht...
Additional Information:	© 2014 The Authors
Divisions:	Government
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JC Political theory
Date Deposited:	21 Jul 2014 08:30
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:32
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/58031

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