Restructuring the Labor Market to Democratize the Public Forum

Jessica A. Knouse, University of Toledo College of Law

Abstract

Restructuring the Labor Market to Democratize the Public Forum makes the provocative argument that the identities we construct in the labor market prevent us from creating a democratic public forum. The labor market, where we spend most of our time as adults, wields tremendous influence over our identities, yet its influences are deeply undemocratic. Employers work to create hierarchy and ideological conformity – through many mechanisms, including sex-based pay scales and stereotypes – rather than to promote equality and ideological diversity. When employer-created hierarchies and ideologies are internalized and reproduced within the public forum, they diminish the possibility of democratic debate. If we want a democratic public forum, we need a labor market that is either democratic or largely irrelevant to identity construction. The labor market could be “democratized” by requiring employers to flatten existing hierarchies and involve employees in workplace governance; it could be rendered largely irrelevant to identity construction by diminishing the number of hours we spend at work.