Professionalizing the Representation of Publics

• In Event: 568 - Section on Political Sociology Paper Session. The Politics of Representation

Abstract

This paper provides historical background and contemporary analysis of the development of what initially seems to be a bizarre category of professionals: practitioners who specialize in producing the representation of ordinary publics in participatory and deliberative processes. While the professionalization of lay engagement in businesses, non-profit organizations and governments initially seems paradoxical, I find through multi-method research that this thriving field is driven by anxieties about democratic deficits under neoliberal governance. In arguing for more effective public participation, elite actors in the public engagement field have had to pursue "grasstops" activism and have engaged in conventional interest advocacy. Nevertheless, public engagement practitioners are deeply conflicted about the growth of the field in "hard times" and their potential complicity in reproducing inequality and reducing contention.

Author

• Caroline W. Lee, Lafayette College