Discourse architecture, ideology, and democratic norms in online political discussion

Studies of political discussions online have been dominated by approaches that focus exclusively on deliberation, ignoring other equally relevant communication norms. This study conducts a normative assessment of discussion spaces in two prominent web platforms—Twitter hashtags and newspaper comment sections devoted to particular political issues—applying the norms of communitarianism, liberal individualism, and deliberation. The platforms’ distinct design features and users’ left/right issue stances emerge as significant predictors of normative differences.

[1]  W. Lance Bennett,et al.  Response to Ellen Mickiewicz's review of When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina , 2007, Perspectives on Politics.

[2]  Todd Graham,et al.  Discursive Equality and Everyday Talk Online: The Impact of "Superparticipants" , 2014, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[3]  Ken'ichi Ikeda,et al.  SELECTIVE EXPOSURE IN POLITICAL WEB BROWSING , 2009 .

[4]  Nicholas W. Jankowski,et al.  Internet-based political discourse : a case study of electronic democracy in Hoogeveen , 2004 .

[5]  Jennifer Stromer-Galley.  Measuring Deliberation’s Content: A Coding Scheme , 2007, Regular Issue.

[6]  Edward G. Carmines,et al.  The Two Faces of Issue Voting , 1980, American Political Science Review.

[7]  R. Kies,et al.  Online Forums and Deliberative Democracy , 2005 .

[8]  Zizi Papacharissi,et al.  The virtual geographies of social networks: a comparative analysis of Facebook, LinkedIn and ASmallWorld , 2009, New Media Soc..

[9]  Sean A. Munson,et al.  Presenting diverse political opinions: how and how much , 2010, CHI.

[10]  Matthew R. Kerbel.  Netroots: Online Progressives and the Transformation of American Politics , 2009 .

[11]  William Wresch,et al.  Democracy in the Digital Age: Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace , 2001, Inf. Soc..

[12]  Scott Wright,et al.  Democracy, deliberation and design: the case of online discussion forums , 2007, New Media Soc..

[13]  Aaron D. Shaw,et al.  A Tale of Two Blogospheres , 2012 .

[14]  Paul F. Lazarsfeld,et al.  Public Opinion and the Classical Tradition , 1957 .

[15]  Edward B. Royzman,et al.  Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion , 2001 .

[16]  Diana C. Mutz,et al.  Online Groups and Political Discourse: Do Online Discussion Spaces Facilitate Exposure to Political Disagreement? , 2009 .

[17]  Deen Freelon,et al.  Analyzing online political discussion using three models of democratic communication , 2010, New Media Soc..

[18]  Jingbo Meng,et al.  Selective Exposure to Attitude-Consistent and Counterattitudinal Political Information , 2011 .

[19]  Carmen Stavrositu,et al.  The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy , 2012 .

[20]  Nancy Fraser.  Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy , 2016, Public Space Reader.

[21]  J. Habermas.  Political Communication in Media Society: Does Democracy Still Enjoy an Epistemic Dimension? The Impact of Normative Theory on Empirical Research , 2006 .

[22]  Jane B. Singer,et al.  Separate Spaces , 2009 .

[23]  Laurie J. Bonnici,et al.  Beyond the FAQ: Explicit and implicit norms in Usenet newsgroups , 2003 .

[24]  C. Sunstein.  Republic.com 2.0 , 2007 .

[25]  Liesbet van Zoonen,et al.  Internet Use and Political Participation: Reflections on the Mobilization/Normalization Controversy , 2011, Inf. Soc..

[26]  J. Jensen.  Public Spheres on the Internet: Anarchic or Government‐Sponsored – A Comparison , 2003 .

[27]  Jesse M. Shapiro,et al.  Ideological Segregation Online and Offline , 2010 .

[28]  J. Habermas,et al.  The structural transformation of the public sphere : an inquiryinto a category of bourgeois society , 1991 .

[29]  Scott L. Althaus.  What's Good and Bad in Political Communication Research? Normative Standards for Evaluating Media and Citizen Performance , 2011 .

[30]  Jacob Ratkiewicz,et al.  Political Polarization on Twitter , 2011, ICWSM.

[31]  Scott Wright,et al.  Politics as usual? Revolution, normalization and a new agenda for online deliberation , 2012, New Media Soc..

[32]  Thomas J. Johnson,et al.  Communication Communities or "CyberGhettos?": A Path Analysis Model Examining Factors that Explain Selective Exposure to Blogs , 2009, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[33]  R. Kelly Garrett,et al.  Echo chambers online?: Politically motivated selective exposure among Internet news users , 2009, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[34]  J. Dryzek.  Deliberative Democracy And Beyond , 2000 .

[35]  Todd R. Davies,et al.  Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and Practice , 2008 .

[36]  H. Simon,et al.  A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice , 1955 .

[37]  Zizi Papacharissi,et al.  Democracy online: civility, politeness, and the democratic potential of online political discussion groups , 2004, New Media Soc..

[38]  John M. Sides,et al.  Self-Segregation or Deliberation? Blog Readership, Participation, and Polarization in American Politics , 2010, Perspectives on Politics.

[39]  Peter Muhlberger,et al.  Human Agency and the Revitalization of the Public Sphere , 2005 .

[40]  J. Klein.  Deliberation Day , 2005 .

[41]  D. Romer,et al.  Realizing the Social Internet? Online Social Networking Meets Offline Civic Engagement , 2009 .

[42]  C. Mouffe.  Deliberative democracy or agonistic pluralism , 2000 .

[43]  Jane J. Mansbridge.  Beyond Adversary Democracy , 1980 .

[44]  W. Bennett,et al.  A New Era of Minimal Effects? The Changing Foundations of Political Communication , 2008 .

[45]  Warren Sack.  Discourse Architecture and Very Large-scale Conversation , 2009 .

[46]  Ariadne Vromen,et al.  Building virtual spaces: Young people, participation and the Internet , 2008 .

[47]  Richard M Buck,et al.  Why Deliberative Democracy? , 2007 .

[48]  Lincoln Dahlberg.  The Internet and Democratic Discourse: Exploring The Prospects of Online Deliberative Forums Extending the Public Sphere , 2001 .

[49]  Amitai Etzioni,et al.  The spirit of community : the reinvention of American society , 1994 .

[50]  Lincoln Dahlberg,et al.  Democracy via Cyberspace , 2001, New Media Soc..

[51]  Kyu S. Hahn,et al.  Red Media, Blue Media: Evidence of Ideological Selectivity in Media Use , 2009 .

[52]  James S. Fishkin,et al.  "Deliberative Public Opinion in Presidential Primaries: Evidence from the Online Deliberative Poll" * , 2004 .

[53]  S. Chambers,et al.  DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRATIC THEORY , 2003 .

[54]  Eric S. Fredin.  The Web of Politics: The Internet's Impact on the American Political System , 1999 .

[55]  J. Hoff.  The Internet and Democratic Citizenship: Theory, Practice and Policy , 2010 .

[56]  Karin Wahl-Jorgensen,et al.  Letters to the Editor as a Forum for public deliberation: modes of publicity and democratic debate , 2001 .

[57]  J. Dryzek.  Deliberative democracy and beyond : liberals, critics, contestations , 2000 .

[58]  A. Downs.  An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy , 1957, Journal of Political Economy.

[59]  Sheizaf Rafaeli,et al.  Time to Split, Virtually: 'Discourse Architecture' and 'Community Building' Create Vibrant Virtual Publics , 2000, Electron. Mark..

[60]  C. W. Morris.  Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism , 1995 .