Can the poor exercise deliberative agency in a multimedia saturated society? Lessons from Brazil and Lebanon

This article investigates how communities experiencing poverty can exercise their deliberative agency in a media-saturated society. While empirical research on deliberative democracy tends to focus on the role of mini-publics in giving low-income households the opportunity in small-scale, carefully designed forums to characterise, justify, and reflect on their views, such conception of deliberative agency gets lost in the picture once deliberative theory begins thinking in systemic terms. This article proposes a remedy to this theoretical and analytical gap by characterising the hypermediated character of the deliberative system and identifying possibilities for communities experiencing poverty to maximise the affordances of digital media for them to make an appearance in the public sphere, speak in their own voice, and carry the embodied and storied character of their arguments. I present two illustrative cases drawing on the experiences of families with low income directly affected by the bloody war on drugs in the Philippines who utilise photojournalism and online music streaming to break in the public sphere and engage in systemic deliberations about the drug war. These examples demonstrate how communities experiencing poverty express their deliberative agency amidst fear, trauma and deprivation and democratise a media-saturated deliberative system under an increasingly authoritarian regime. Overall, this article hopes to strengthen the link between normative media studies and democratic theory and offering possibilities for reforming the public sphere that recognises the poor’s deliberative agency.

Deliberative agency refers to citizens’ performances of political justification in the public sphere. This chapter argues that the performance of deliberative agency in news media by those in poverty is not only normatively desirable but also politically possible. It presents the case of long-form journalism in the Philippines to demonstrate how Indigenous communities express political claims in spaces dominated by voices of political elites and middle-class constituencies that are often disparaging, if not hostile, to Indigenous claims. This chapter unpacks the conditions that create a hospitable space for the performance of deliberative agency by those in poverty as well as the constraints in today’s public sphere.

Mass media play a double-edged role in promoting deliberative democracy: they enforce hierarchies in public discussion by prioritizing the voice of particular groups, yet they remain the best, if not the only institution that can temper inequalities in deliberation, particularly in their capacity to grant ordinary people opportunities for voice in deliberative settings. We put forward two criteria that can assess media’s capacity to enforce inclusiveness in public deliberation. A mediated deliberative system is inclusive if it (1) proactively gives visibility and voice to vulnerable groups to be seen and heard on their terms and (2) allows those with less power to act as “deliberative agents” capable of facing their interlocutors, articulating, defending, and considering one’s views. We provide empirical context to this argument through the case of the Reproductive Health debates in the Philippines, as they played out in two different television genres that differently accentuate deliberative agency.

This chapter argues that the reason why groups are gaining more renewed interest is their ‘democratizing’ qualities. Does their incorporation into governance structures help democratize those structures? This book examines interest group organizations against the backdrop of this ongoing debate. Groups are important vehicles for injecting ‘voice’ into the public sphere and keeping the ‘conversation’ going. Much of the disagreement over whether groups are agents of democracy can be traced back to differing starting points. This chapter identifies several separate threads in the literature which have converged to focus scholarly attention upon groups.

From Café Culture to Tweets

After the end of the Lebanese civil war, Hizbullah and Amal emerged as the dominant actors in the Shi’i public sphere. Their hegemony involved the physical control of space as well as the construction of a system of symbols and narratives. Pockets of opposition were usually isolated and did not command a sufficiently wide base to become an alternative option. Criticism of the hegemonic parties, as well as consequent signs of nervousness, is appearing anyway, not as a result of Hizbullah’s involvement in the Syrian conflict, which in fact is reinforcing sectarian discourses, but because of social and economic issues. The “garbage crisis” in the summer of 2015 highlighted the weakness of the consociational system and the potential rise of new political subjectivities that are not based on sectarian cleavages.

How physicians and scientists can respond responsibly and effectively to religiously based opposition to human embryonic stem cell research

This study explores regionally based perspectives on the broader nation-wide phenomena of the politicisation of Hinduism (Hindutva) in historical and contemporary times (van der Veer 1987; Basu et al 1993; Pandey 1993; Jaffrelot 1996). However, in contrast to these works, my focus is on the extent to which an annual religious festival, the Ganapati utsava, has been effected by the wider socio-political terrain in the cities of Mumbai and Pune, Maharashtra. The Ganapati utsava is a discursive arena for mutually reliant activities of a devotional, artistic, entertaining, and socio-political nature. The intertwining of the various constituent elements sustain and accentuate each other in the performative milieux of the festival, yet also lie outside of totalising political schemas. I note that the festival has become a site for the hegemonic strategies of several political parties, and sponsored media competitions who all vie for supremacy in the festive context. As a result, the festival represents an uneven field of consent and contestation (Laclau and Mouflfe 1985). The history, and contemporary praxis of the festival necessitates a consideration of the movement of nationalism(s) for which the festival played a significant part, particularly under the auspices of Bal Gangadhar Tilak since the 1890s. I propose that the efficacy of nationalism as a hegemonic strategy relies as much on public performative events, as on constitutional politics and social structures (eg. Gellner 1983), or on the print media, such as newspapers and novels (eg. Anderson 1983). By integrating Habermas' views on the 'public sphere' (Habermas 1991) and perspectives on public rituals or 'public arenas' (Freitag 1989), the study notes the interactive potency of both collective gatherings and media forms as sites for variant nationalist strategies. Mandap (shrine) tableaux, in particular, are considered as performative loci for socio-political variables, particularly in their audio-taped narratives and visualisation of versions of the nation.

A number of marginalized groups, including women and young people face multiple disadvantages in the traditional print media public sphere. As an inherently political space, young women’s position within the public sphere has implications for their wider role in politics and society. However, few studies analyze this specific intersection of youth and gender empirically. Using recent original data, this article analyzes how young women and their interests are represented in the traditional media public sphere. It uses the lens of political claims analysis, a method that collects data on strategic interventions that express a political opinion either verbal or nonverbal, by collective actors in the public sphere, in addition to the thematic content analysis of the coded claims. This is an exploratory analysis of original political claims data and news content gathered from a range of newspapers across nine European countries from the period 2010 to 2016. It finds that the main qualities of representation confirm patterns within existing literature, with a centrality of young women’s bodies within our sample, and a low level of agency or “active” role for young women within claims relating to their own interest. Furthermore, we empirically confirm trends which offer examples of more progressive representations of young women and their interests, including the significance of civil society actors in promoting the rights of young women and the theme of gender (in)equality in professional life, which enables space for a greater level of agency for young women than most other debates.

Research Article| January 01 2011 Religion and the Ritual of Public Discourse Warren G. Frisina Warren G. Frisina Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google American Journal of Theology & Philosophy (2011) 32 (1): 74–92. https://doi.org/10.2307/27944534 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Warren G. Frisina; Religion and the Ritual of Public Discourse. American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 1 January 2011; 32 (1): 74–92. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/27944534 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressAmerican Journal of Theology & Philosophy Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2011 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2011 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The emergence and evolution of the internet have reshaped the landscape of political communication and discourse, transforming it into a public sphere that transcends geographical boundaries and traditional hierarchies. This paper explores the role of the Internet as a platform for political engagement, communication, and mobilization. Reviewing different theories of the public sphere and empirical studies, it examines how digital technologies have democratized access to information, enabled diverse voices to participate in political discussions, and facilitated collective action. The internet's potential as a public political sphere is accompanied by challenges and controversies. Issues such as echo chambers, filter bubbles, and the spread of disinformation raise concerns about the quality and inclusivity of online political discussions. Moreover, the concentration of power among a few tech giants poses risks to democratic governance and freedom of expression. Despite these challenges, the Internet also presents opportunities for enhancing democratic practices and civic engagement. Platforms for citizen journalism, online petitions, and social media activism empower individuals to hold governments and institutions accountable. Moreover, digital tools enable marginalized groups to amplify their voices and advocate for social justice causes. If people can freely connect to the Internet without corporate, economic, and governmental restrictions, then the Internet can function as an open and democratic public sphere. This paper concludes by discussing future directions for research and policy interventions aimed at strengthening the Internet's role as a vibrant and inclusive public political sphere. This paper concludes by discussing future directions for research and policy interventions aimed at strengthening the Internet's role as a vibrant and inclusive public political sphere.

This paper examines the criticism of Jürgen Habermas's idea of the public sphere, which is essential for sociology to comprehend the possibility for consensus in the communication processes of modern society. The main objective of this paper is to examine the evolution of the notion of the public sphere. This will be achieved by investigating the traditional concept of the public sphere and scrutinising its mechanisms. The public sphere is crucial in providing a platform for thoughtful discussions that strive to involve society in the process of constructing society itself. Undoubtedly, the evolution of social interactions in contemporary times is influenced by the standard possibilities and limitations imposed by public discussions. Amidst the era of digital advancements, the discussion around the public sphere has gained significant significance and complexity. Given the abundance and variety of public areas. This paper aims to elucidate the evolution of the traditional notion of the public sphere and analyse its defining features.

The present paper discusses the key findings and implications of the author’s homonymous master’s thesis, a comparative study which aims to develop as a system of overlapping associations between two cases of public nomadic art interventions. Specifically, the study examines the performance of the action Le ballon ροζ or six ways by the author, on the one hand, as well as a sample of five independent works by performance artist Regina José Galindo, on the other. By analysing these interventions, the study aims to enrich the discourse around issues of embodied experience, political claim, and the production of identity and spatiality within a multiple public sphere.The elaboration of the main performative act, the aforementioned performance piece by the author, occurring following an unprompted urban route in Athens, is utilised as a place of production of this associative system. The distinction of six thematic categories within it are set as an axis of the study’s development, which is achieved through the juxtaposition of corresponding textual units approaching examples from the work of Galindo. This method allows for a deeper understanding of the shared concerns and themes that emerge from the interventions.The primary texts of the first case, Le ballon ροζ or six ways, acquire characteristics of a performative reading during the original presentation of the research, creating an embodied expression, while the juxtaposed analyses function as interpretations of the primary texts. By utilising this perspective, a degree of distancing from the personal practice is obtained, allowing for a dialectical approach to emerge. At the same time, an associative process is implemented within textual research, in direct correlation to the aforementioned embodied expression, leading to the creation of a multifaceted analysis.Acknowledging of the ingoing subjective factors or coincidences within the described process is taken as a key assumption in the context of a nomadic view, allowing for transitions and lines of flight between ideas, mental journeys, and the activation of the imaginary. Overall, a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the two cases of public nomadic art interventions is accomplished. By utilising a performative reading of the primary texts and a juxtaposition with corresponding textual units, the study provides a unique and innovative approach to examining issues of embodied experience, political claim, gendered identity, and spatiality. Through its intricate analysis of the interventions and their impact on the public sphere, it contributes to the exploration of spatiality through performative practices, highlighting the centrality of political implications.

There is a growing body of work on the ability of young people and minorities to have their voices heard in the public sphere, particularly with advances in information and communication technologies and the emancipatory expectations that ensued. Are all young people, in all their diversity, equally likely to have their political claims relayed by the mainstream press? Is the growing prevalence of social media communication reflected in mainstream media agenda setting? Does it contribute to political equality in terms of representation in the mainstream press? This article aims to answer these questions through a large-scale political claims analysis in 45 newspapers across nine European countries. It comes to confirm the theoretical underpinnings laid out by scholars like Herman and Chomsky with their analysis of media agenda setting and power relations or Chantal Mouffe and her notion of agonistic pluralism and the need to address unequal access to the public sphere. Overall, our findings suggest that young people in general—but even more so disadvantaged youth socioeconomic groups—are misrepresented in mainstream newspapers and that the increasing prevalence of social media communication does not seem to be reflected in mainstream media agenda setting.

This article analyzes youth collective activism in relation to crime and violence in the context of long-term dominance of “moral panics” discourse, where young people are often framed as a “threat” and “problem.” While many prior studies focus on media presentation of youth in single countries, we investigate how youth actors themselves make political claims related to crime and violence, and take a comparative perspective on this question. Based on a unique data on youth-related political claims from the newspapers of nine European countries—France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, we demonstrate that youth are rarely present in the public discussions about crime and violence, especially in the countries where youth actors face restricted discursive opportunities in the print media. The dominant “adult view” in claims about crime and violence often connect youth to diverse social problems and attribute blame to youth more often than to adults; the claims made by youth do not make such a difference in blame attribution.