083 - Thematic Session. The New Politics of Participation

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

Amidst concerns about the public’s disengagement from politics, opportunities for citizen participation in various kinds of deliberative forums have proliferated. Such forums exist alongside the new kinds of collaboration made possible by the Internet: from Wikipedia and reddit to crowdsourcing. Champions hail an era of Democracy 2.0, in which participation is made easy, fun, and effective. Critics ask, variously, if participation substitutes for power, if the discussion that takes place in the contemporary public sphere is truly deliberative, and if elites end up benefiting more from public participation than the public. This panel tackles the potential and realities of public participation today. Panelists will discuss how the professionalization of participation is shaping its meaning; how women fare in the digital public sphere; how people understand the purposes and limits of advocacy; and what role universities can and should play in creating active citizens.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizers

• Francesca Polletta, University of California, Irvine

• Elisabeth S. Clemens, University of Chicago

Presider

• Francesca Polletta, University of California, Irvine

Individual Presentations

• Digital Discourse and Gender-Based Harassment - Sarah Sobieraj, Tufts University

• Manufacturing and Marketing New Forms of Civic Engagement - Edward T. Walker, UCLA

• The National Politics of Local Democracy - Caroline W. Lee, Lafayette College

• Humanities Education and Public Conversation - Andrew J. Perrin, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Alanna Gillis, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Discussant

• Francesca Polletta, University of California, Irvine