Norms of deliberation as culturally specific
From Internet: Knowledge and Community
Deliberation can be ineffective if we don't recognize and rectify the cultural norms that are inherent to our approach to deliberation. Iris Marion Young argues that one problematic assumptions about deliberative democracy that often goes unnoticed in or culture is that, "by restricting their concept of democratic discussions narrowly to critical arguments, theorists assume a cultural bias about the conception of discussion" (120). The norms of deliberation often favor speech that is formal and follows a rigid structure of logic while speech that is more prosaic may be dismissed as lacking in meaningful substance. Young explains this as, "The social power that can prevent people from being equal speakers derives not only from economic independence and political domination, but also from an internalized sense of one's right to speak and from people's style of speech" (122). Young proposes an expanded conception of deliberative democracy to address this cultural disparity which includes the additional elements of rhetoric, greeting and storytelling.
