Why Inequality in Outcome Was Not Peter Bachrach's Theme

Talking about inequality in Peter Bachrach's work is much like talking about just distribution in Marx. It misses the point. Although Bachrach never neglected the issue of equality in output, his real concern was control. For Bachrach, control over decisions that affect one’s life change a person for the better. By contrast, sustaining nondecisions by the elite place some, such as the poor, in political isolation, fortifying their political apathy. Participation is, in Bachrach’s theory, the means to discover one’s needs even if that discovery leads to conflict.