Relational Egalitarianism

Relational egalitarianism refers to an approach to interpreting the meaning and value of equality. This approach emphasizes the egalitarian quality of social relations and deemphasizes the equal distribution of goods. This article provides a short history of relational egalitarianism. I then survey relational egalitarian criticisms of distributively focused egalitarian principles, arguing that theorists are converging on the view that both relational and distributive concerns have independent significance. I discuss attempts to identify what relational equality involves and why it matters. I argue that defenses of relational egalitarianism are more robust than often suggested. I review relational egalitarian approaches to specific political and policy problems, with a special focus on scholarship in democratic theory, given relational egalitarians’ long-standing concerns with inequalities of power and authority. I conclude with reflections on the relevance of relational egalitarianism for political science and political theory.