CMC and the question of democratisation: a university field study

Abstract

The potential of computer mediated communication (CMC) to enable new forms of social interaction and foster democratisation of decision making has raised much interest but has been challenged by contradictory research results. Conceived as a tool, CMC was examined in terms of its social effects, thus indicating a degree of technological determinism. We explore CMC as an extension of a productive social space of linguistically-mediated interaction, drawing on J. Habermas's (1984; 1987) theory of communicative action. By examining the evidence from a field study of a university, we identify how participants appropriate CMC to produce a consultative discourse motivated by divergent agendas. This investigation helps us better understand communicative practice and concurrent tendencies of CMC towards encouraging and obstructing democratisation.