Pulling Toward or Pulling Away: Deliberation, Disagreement, and Opinion Extremity in Political Participation

Objective. Evidence supports two somewhat contradictory notions: deliberation is to encourage engagement, but disagreement may decrease participation. This study aims to provide a common denominator in the debate. It distinguishes between deliberation and political disagreement that emerges during deliberation to test which factors advance or thwart participatory goals. This study also accounts for opinion extremity, which may moderate the tested relationships. Methods. This study draws on quasi-experimental data from participants in structured, moderated, and heterogeneous face-to-face deliberations on sexual minority rights in Poland (N=181). Results. Relative to the pretest, deliberation discouraged moderates from active engagement and pulled them away from communicative participation. As predicted, extreme participants who perceived high disagreement intended to be more active than their counterparts in like-minded groups. Conclusions. Research on deliberative versus participatory democracy should differentiate between deliberation and political disagreement as well as account for individual characteristics that affect responses to deliberation and disagreement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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