Public Reasoning Together: Gender and Political Deliberation

Political liberals believe that compliance with a norm of public reason facilitates the realization of cooperation and civic friendship among cocitizens. However, a developing literature in political psychology provides strong reasons for skepticism that public reason will equally ensure that women and men realize these values. Instead, the norm of public reason-at least in common specifications-favors characteristically male forms of deliberation. We propose supplementing public reason with a norm of rapport, which conceives of deliberation as an interactive engagement requiring proattitudes and actions from speaker and listener alike.