The Political Saturation of Social Space

Abstract

This chapter begins to develop the book’s diagnostic argument. Overdoing democracy is partly the result of a widespread social phenomenon identified as the political saturation of social space. Politics has permeated our lives enough to guide where we shop, what we wear, even what we drink (Starbucks latte versus Dunkin’ Donuts coffee). Our social spaces are increasingly sorted and segregated according to our political allegiances, while our political allegiances are increasingly constitutive of our broader social identities. The result is that we are more than ever enacting democratic citizenship, but almost always under conditions that are themselves politically homogeneous. Until citizens are open to each other’s arguments, we cannot plausibly see democratic political rule as consistent with each citizens’ status as an equal, and thus more than merely the tyranny of the majority.