Non-domination at work: two puzzles for liberal relational egalitarians

Christian Schemmel conceives the ideal of relational egalitarianism it as a halfway house between liberal egalitarianism and republicanism. The most important merit of his contribution is, however, that it gives flesh to the institutional demands of relational equality regarding to political participation, the distribution of income and opportunities, as well as healthcare. This paper suggests that a fourth domain is worth considering, namely: the workplace. After explaining why relational egalitarians should be concerned about workplace relationships, the paper presents two puzzles for them. The first concerns the extent to which domination ceases to be such when employers are compelled by market forces to interfere with their subordinates. The second inquires about the best institutional arrangement to secure relational equality at work. The paper examines three possible alternatives and concludes that none of them offers a silver bullet against domination.