Political Talk, Conversation, Discussion, Debate, or Deliberation? An Interpersonal Political Communication Definition and Typology

Interpersonal communication is at the core of every form of human communication system, and the realm of political communication is no exception. Through interpersonal communication, individuals gain knowledge about the political world, understand the common goals and values of their political system, and learn how to participate in political tasks. As do many other research areas, interpersonal communication research faces numerous challenges. There is a lack of conceptual organization and precision about names and labels such as political talk, political conversation, public dialogue, political dialogue, political discussion, political debate, and political deliberation. Apparently, these expressions refer to the same idea: interpersonal communications that fall into the political realm. However, each term has a diverse epistemological, normative, and theoretical background and represents a different way of conceptualizing this idea. This essay suggests a general definition for interpersonal political communication and a matrix that organizes the existing academic knowledge about this topic

¿Charla política, conversación, discusión, debate o deliberación?: Una definición y tipología de la comunicación política interpersonal

Interpersonal communication is at the core of every form of human communication system, and the realm of political communication is no exception. Through interpersonal communication, individuals gain knowledge about the political world, understand the common goals and values of their political system, and learn how to participate in political tasks. As do many other research areas, interpersonal communication research faces numerous challenges. There is a lack of conceptual organization and precision about names and labels such as political talk, political conversation, public dialogue, political dialogue, political discussion, political debate, and political deliberation. Apparently, these expressions refer to the same idea: interpersonal communications that fall into the political realm. However, each term has a diverse epistemological, normative, and theoretical background and represents a different way of conceptualizing this idea. This essay suggests a general definition for interpersonal political communication and a matrix that organizes the existing academic knowledge about this topic.La comunicación interpersonal es central para cualquier sistema de comunicación y el ámbito de la comunicación política no es la excepción. A pesar de la importancia de la comunicación interpersonal, el campo de la comunicación política ha asignado poca importancia al estudio de este tipo de comunicación. Por ello, la investigación sobre comunicación interpersonal enfrenta numerosos desafíos. En específico, existe una falta de organización y, por tanto, de precisión, en la distinción de conceptos como discurso político, conversación política, diálogo público, diálogo político, discusión política, debate político y deliberación política. Aparentemente, estas expresiones se refieren a la misma idea: comunicaciones interpersonales que caen en el ámbito político. Sin embargo, cada término tiene un trasfondo epistemológico, normativo y teórico diverso y representa una forma diferente de conceptualizar esta idea. Este trabajo sugiere una definición general de comunicación política interpersonal y una matriz que organiza la desorganización conceptual previamente mencionada.ITESO, A.C

Media Predictors during the 2012 Presidential Election: Political Understanding, Discussion and Candidate Likeability

This study examined the influence of traditional and online media variables on political understanding, discussion and likeability of the major 2012 U.S. presidential candidates. Political information seeking on web sites and blogs contributed to confidence in understanding political issues but not for reducing the complexity of government. All three online sources studied predicted increased interpersonal communication about politics, as did viewing television news and listening to radio news. Almost all of the media variables influenced evaluations of the major party candidates with some reducing positive evaluations and others increasing them. Exposure to radio news was a consistent predictor but varied based on measurement and candidate. Future studies should consider greater complexity of measures to consider type of discussion and social media

Socio-demographic factors and participation of the European youth: A multilevel analysis

This study draws on a transnational research project called MYPLACE (Memory, Youth, Political Legacy and Civic Engagement) which received funding from the European Commission. Survey data from almost 17000 young people from fourteen European countries were used to identify socio-demographic factors which are linked to young people's participation. Male, upper social class, higher self-perceived discrimination, greater diversity in social network, higher political socialization in family, and higher political knowledge are significantly related to greater level of political, and civic participation. In addition, higher civic participation is significantly associated with greater satisfaction with life, higher level of trust for politicians and parliament. Moreover, those in education, rated high in household income, reported greater trust for political parties and those from conservative state appeared to have significantly greater political participation. These findings are discussed in the context of previous empirical studies and theories on participation and well-being. Suggestions for future research are also put forward

Theorizing Citizenship in Citizen Journalism

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Network Homogenisation & Party Disengagement: The Political Sociology of Post-Industrial Democracies: An Australian Case Study

Over the last half century Australia has experienced palpable declines in political party satisfaction, identification, confidence and participation. Evidence suggests that the trend toward party disengagement undermines representative democracy by eroding the ability of party organisations to act as conduits between majority will and government. Although there is substantial analysis available into how value orientations, social capital and interpersonal trust influence confidence and involvement in political institutions, relatively little research exists on the network homogenising causes of declining party involvement, something this thesis seeks to address by conducting a close study of this phenomenon in the Australian context. It is argued in this thesis that the decline in party engagement can largely be attributed to rising levels of ‘social modularity’, by which is meant the flexibility to both forge and discontinue social connections. This raised degree of social modularity is found to be facilitating a replacement of ‘bridging’ social capital with ‘bonding’ social capital thereby altering skills and experiences and social and political tolerance and expectations. Increased social autonomy is associated with the post-industrial stage of development; consequently, the findings of this investigation into political sociological trends in Australia are likely to be applicable to most other post-industrial democracies. This thesis draws on my own survey findings as well as raw data from Australian World Values Survey (WVS) waves. The latter were analysed to produce age stratified frequency and correlation statistics. WVS waves provide an invaluable source of data from which trends in values, interpersonal trust, institutional confidence, generosity and community and civic involvement can be analysed. These statistics are supplemented by Pearson correlations collated from responses to the questions posed in my own detailed ‘Political Participation & Conflict Avoidance Survey’, in which 36 subjects participated. Social network homogenisation is found to be linked to a post-industrial generational attitudinal shift from an emphasis on conformity and hierarchical survival values to autonomy and egalitarian self-expression values. That is, statistics reveal that a Self-Expression Values Homogenous Social Network (SEVHSN) Complex now exists. The statistics also show that, and suggest reasons why party confidence, identification and engagement are negatively correlated with immersion in the Complex. Additionally, statistics presented indicate that an increasing proportion of the Australian population is becoming more heavily embedded in the Complex (largely through generational replacement). They also reveal that Complex-immersion is mainly being driven by trends associated with greater social modularity and empowerment (brought about by post-industrialisation). These trends relate to technology use, economic development/financial security, education attainment and news/information dissemination. The statistical analysis present in this thesis suggests that my Homogenisation arguments may have better explanatory power than the two dominant rival sociological engagement theories: Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel’s ‘Modernisation’ and Robert Putnam’s ‘Lamentation’ theories, both of which are critically evaluated.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 201

The Affective Effect of Late-Night Humor: The Indirect Influence of Late-Night Comedy Consumption on Political Engagement through Emotions

The research in this dissertation explores the complex communication processes whereby late-night comedy viewing can produce significant indirect effects on citizen engagement in political life. To this end, the present study introduces a theoretical framework, which synthesizes Affective Intelligence theory, the Orientation-Stimulus-Orientation-Response (O-S-O-R) approach, and the Communication Mediation Model. Specifically, three indirect effects models are proposed and tested across two different research designs: an online experiment and a mail survey. The main findings include the following. First, late-night comedy viewing can promote citizens’ political engagement indirectly by eliciting their anger and worry. Second, consuming satirical humor can mobilize discursive activities for citizens by provoking their negative emotions. Third, more frequent discussion, the expanded size of a discussion network, and greater engagement in online communication activities can mediate and reinforce the mobilizing effects of late-night comedy viewing. Finally, the mediating effects of negative emotions and heterogeneous discussion are conditional upon education, such that exposure to late-night comedy can encourage political participation of well-educated individuals, while the same experiences from satirical humor can demobilize less savvy counterparts. The current research effort provides a range of insights to explore the role of newly emerging media genres that are presumably of less enlightening value and yet are more emotionally amusing and provocative. Primarily, these findings contribute to our understanding of various mediation models anchored in the O-S-O-R framework. By incorporating emotion as a viable mediator (the second O) between the reception of message (S) and its ensuing response (R), the proposed indirect effects models enlarge the scope of the mediation model, while capturing the dynamic intervening mechanisms above and beyond more conventional cognitive accounts. Further by introducing education as a first O, the current research fully exploits the O-S-O-R framework in assessing the impact of political entertainment. Moreover, investigating multiple facets of interpersonal discussion harboring distinct implications for participatory democracy extends the purview of mediators that might be employed in the Communication Mediation Model.Ph.D.CommunicationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91420/1/hoonlz_1.pd

Participation and Deliberation in Networked Publics: The Case of Social Network Sites.

Online social network sites have become an important source of news and political information for many people. At the same time, these sites have transformed the way users encounter and engage with this type of content. This thesis investigates the democratic implications of this trend. Specifically, it estimates the extent to which the relationship between news consumption and political behaviour is mediated by the unique technological affordances of social network sites. It explores how, and to what extent, social network sites transform the way users encounter and engage with news content and how this, in turn, shapes their subsequent political behaviour. This thesis comprises a series of original comparative research papers. Paper 1 sets out to establish evidence of a relationship between everyday social network site use and political participation. Using nationally representative data collected by the UK Oxford Internet Institute, it establishes evidence to suggest that social network site use has the potential to increase political participation, but only when it comes to certain activities. Building on this analysis, Paper 2 estimates the extent to which social network site use indirectly influences political participation, through inadvertently exposing users to news content and information. It finds that although the everyday use of social network sites positively predicts inadvertent news and information exposure, such exposure does not translate into widespread political participation. Since a growing body of research indicates that the effects of news and information on participatory behaviour is largely channeled through interpersonal communication, Paper 3 and Paper 4 focus on the communicative processes that are typically thought to precede participation. Specifically, these papers analyse a unique set of data to investigate the extent to which social network sites shape the way users discuss the news content they consume on these sites. Paper 3 compares the deliberative quality of user comments left on social network sites with those left on news websites. Paper 4 adopts an identical methodological approach to compare the level of civility and politeness in user comments across platforms. The findings suggest that while social network sites are conducive to civil political discussion, they do not appear to encourage comments of superior deliberative quality

Personal Connections to the Political World: Social Influences on Democratic Competence in Brazil and in Comparative Context

Conversation is at democracy’s core. In this dissertation, I examine citizens’ political discussion networks and their effects on democratic competence, meaning what citizens know about and how they interact with their political systems. I investigate how patterns of discussion and discussion’s impacts vary across the world, paying particular attention to Brazil. Data come from panel studies spanning Brazil’s 2002, 2006, and 2010 presidential elections, as well as a case study of the 2008 local elections; and from an eleven country study in the 1990s. I address three broad research questions. First, does political discussion affect democratic competence, and for whom? While the claim that political discussion has democratic benefits is common, selection effects make demonstrating causal claims difficult, since politically knowledgeable and engaged citizens are likely to choose to discuss politics. Using fixed effects and instrumental variables models, I find strong evidence that conversation promotes knowledge and participation, and that it has a “leveling effect,” helping citizens with lowest initial knowledge catch up with their neighbors. Moreover, spouses are particularly influential, and women give higher priority to spouses as their closest political discussants. Second, how does knowing people with different political opinions affect democratic competence? The key to solving longstanding debates requires recognizing that divergent preferences take two forms—the total preferences in the network (diversity) and the extent of disagreement with the reference person (conflict). Using multilevel models, I find that in systems with low numbers of candidates, conflict is demobilizing, but only when the network homogeneously disagrees with the reference person. Moreover, conflict combined with diversity promotes learning. In systems with more candidates, however, the effects of conflict disappear. Third, how do the electoral and party systems shape networks? And what are the downstream consequences for democratic competence? The number of candidates in a political system strongly affects exposure to diverse and conflicting preferences as well as the probability of knowing candidates and activists. I estimate that three-quarters of respondents in the local election I study in Brazil knew personally a candidate; using matching, I find that such connections promoted political engagement, but also fostered clientelism