The Conversations of Democracy: Citizens' Everyday Communication in the Deliberative System

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck
• Subject Area: Political Science ; Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2016 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 323094275

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

The project addressed a major gap in the empirical study of deliberative democratic politics. Although democratic theory's deliberative turn stimulated increasing interest in the role of talk for the quality of democratic politics, research paid hardly any attention to ordinary citizens' informal conversations about politics. In particular, no assured knowledge existed about how this form of political communication stands up to the high normative standards of deliberation. Against this backdrop the project aimed for a comprehensive stock-take of citizens' conversations about public affairs as the most basic form of political communication and foundation of democracy's deliberative system. Methodologically, the project followed best-practice examples from social network research to create and analyze a substantively and methodologically optimal database on citizens' everyday political talk. It combined a local two-wave panel survey of a random sample of citizens with a snowball survey of political discussants. To investigate the role of situational circumstances the panel was timed in such a way that the baseline interviews took place during the 2017 national election campaign and thus reflected the politicized context of electoral politics, whereas the reinterviews took place in the aftermath of the election. For analyzing these data from a systemic perspective we developed an analytical typology that distinguishes four arenas of political talk among citizens: informal conversations within the strong ties of kinship and friendship (informal private discursive sphere), within the weak ties, connecting mere acquaintances (informal semi-public discursive sphere), and between people that do not know each other (informal public discursive sphere), as well as organized events where citizens engage in formalized public discussions about political issues (formal public discursive sphere). Complementing research on political communication in institutional arenas of the deliberative system, most notably the burgeoning field of research on structured communication in deliberative mini-publics, the project provided an unprecedented wealth of comprehensive descriptive information about how people discuss politics in their everyday lifeworld (RQ1). It furthermore combined perspectives from participation research and political psychology to examine which conditions contribute to the deliberativeness and other qualities of citizens' everyday talk about politics (RQ2). Finally, it analyzed the consequences of citizens' everyday talk for democratic politics, in particular civic orientations, legitimacy beliefs, and various modes of political participation (RQ3). The project’s findings are complex and contribute to a greatly improved understanding of the micro-foundations of the systemlevel consequences of deliberative communication. Taken together, they justify cautious optimism regarding the deliberative potential of everyday political communication. However, in particular deficits concerning the central criterion of political equality cannot be overlooked.

Publications

• The moderating impact of interpersonal communication on the relationship between news media usage and political knowledge. [International Workshop on Interpersonal Political Communication, Centre for Journalism, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, April 24th to April 25th, 2014].
  Schäfer, Anne
  
• Citizens, Media and Politics in Challenging Times: Perspectives on the Deliberative Quality of Communication. [The Deliberative Quality of Communication Conference 2018, MZES, Mannheim, November 08th to November 09th, 2018].
  Grill, Christiane, Anne Schäfer, Charlotte Löb & Chung-hong Chan
  
• Do political discussion networks empower citizens for discursive participation in the public sphere?. [114th APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition, Boston, MA, August 30th to September 02nd, 2018].
  Grill, Christiane & Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck
  
• Does everyday political communication in discussant networks empower citizens for discursive participation in the public sphere?. [XXVIII Sunbelt Social Networks Conference of the International Network for Social Network Analysis, Utrecht, June 26th to July 01st, 2018].
  Grill, Christiane & Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck
  
• Effects of Election Campaigns: The Role of Citizens’ Interpersonal Communication. [Lecture at the International ICA Summer School in Political Communication and Electoral Behavior, Università degli Studi di Milano, July 13th, 2018].
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger
  
• From the living room to the meeting hall: Does informal everyday talk empower citizens for public political discussions?. [76th Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), Chicago, IL, April 05th to April 08th, 2018]
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger & Christiane Grill
  
• Ordinary people’s everyday talk about politics. [Towards New Frameworks of Media and Communication Studies “Beyond the West” Conference, Hong Kong, November 04th, 2018].
  Grill, Christiane & Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck
  
• Politische Gespräche und demokratische Politik. Die Alltagskommunikation der BürgerInnen Mannheims. [Vortrag bei der Stadtverwaltung, Mannheim, December 14th, 2018].
  Grill, Christiane & Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck
  
• Studying the ‘Conversations of Democracy’: Research Design and Data Collection. Mannheim [Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung: Arbeitspapiere; 173]
  Grill, Christiane, Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck & Manon Metz
  
• The deliberativeness of citizens’ everyday talk about politics. [76th Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), Chicago, IL, April 05th to April 08th, 2018].
  Grill, Christiane & Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck
  
• Dissimilarity in Interpersonal Communication and Political Change. Dissertation, University of Mannheim.
  Schäfer, Anne
  
• Politikwissenschaftliche Einstellungs- und Verhaltensforschung. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG.
  Faas, Thorsten; Gabriel, Oscar W. & Maier, Jürgen
  
• Politische Kommunikation im Alltag der Bürger/innen Mannheims. Einblicke in das „Mannheimer Stadtgespräch“. [Begrüßungstag für Seniorenund Gaststudierende der Universität Mannheim, Mannheim, February 08th, 2019].
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger
  
• Politische Kommunikation im Alltag der Bürger/innen Mannheims: Einblicke in das „Mannheimer Stadtgespräch“. [Vortrag bei "Freunde der Universität Mannheim", Mannheim, May 20th, 2019].
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger
  
• The Effect of Local Context on Citizens’ Attitudes toward Immigration Policy. An Analysis of Refugee Reception Centres in Urban Neighborhoods. [9th Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association, Belfast, June 20th to June 22nd, 2019].
  Ellerbrock, Simon
  
• Wer wird eigentlich befragt? Eine 5-Ebenen Ausfallanalyse von Survey-Respondenten anhand eines Fallbeispiels. [21. Jahrestagung der Fachgruppe "Methoden der Publizistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft" der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK), Universität Greifswald, September 25th to September 27th, 2019].
  Grill, Christiane & Simon Ellerbrock
  
• From the Living Room to the Meeting Hall? Citizens’ Political Talk in the Deliberative System. Political Communication, 37(6), 832-851.
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger & Grill, Christiane
  
• The Gender Gap in Everyday Political Talk: The Result of Social and Economic Status, Opportunities, or Parental Socialization?. [116th APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition, Virtual conference, September 10th to September 13th, 2020].
  Neumann, Manuel
  
• Collection: Deliberative Quality of Communication. [Journal of Deliberative Democracy, Volume 17, Issue 2]
  Grill, Christiane & Anne Schäfer
  
• Personal Inhibition and Everyday Political Talk: Gender and Differences in the Reluctance to Talk About Politics. [78th Annual MPSA Conference,Virtual conference, April 14th to April 18th, 2021].
  Neumann, Manuel
  
• Personality Traits and Citizens´ Conversations about Politics: An Integrative Approach to the Study on How Citizens Discuss Politics. Mannheim [Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung: Arbeitspapiere; 176]
  Grill, Christiane
  
• Personality Traits and Citizens´ Conversations about Politics: An Integrative Approach to the Study on How Citizens Discuss Politics. Mannheim [Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung: Arbeitspapiere; 176].
  Grill, Christiane
  
• Who Wants to Talk? Gender and Differences in Reluctance in Everyday Political Talk. [11th Annual Meeting of the European Political Science Association, Virtual conference, June 24th to June 25th, 2021].
  Neumann, Manuel
  
• Asymmetric Communication and Internal Exclusion in Everyday Political Talk. Frontiers in Political Science, 4.
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger
  
• Citizens in the Deliberative System: Asymmetry in Everyday Political Talk. [Seminar GEPOP Morning Meeting, Göteborg, October 21st, 2022].
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger
  
• Do People Like to Discuss Politics? The Role of Social and Political Motives. [118th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Montréal, September 15th to September 18th, 2022].
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger & Manuel Neumann
  
• Introduction: Deliberative Qualities of Communication. Journal of Deliberative Democracy, 17(2).
  Grill, Christiane & Schäfer, Anne
  
• Prerequisites of deliberative democracy: Inclusivity, publicity, and heterogeneity of German citizens’ everyday political talk. Studies in Communication and Media, 11(1), 7-72.
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger
  
• The Missing Link in the Deliberative System: Everyday Political Talk with Strangers. [118th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Montréal, September 15th to September 18th, 2022].
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger & Christian Schnaudt
  
• Activating the Right Electorate: Internet Use, Nativism, and Voting for the AfD. Wahlen und politische Einstellungen, 85-106. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
  Neumann, Manuel
  
• Do people like to discuss politics? A study of citizens’ political talk culture. European Political Science Review, 15(3), 373-392.
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger & Neumann, Manuel
  
• Everyday Political Talk with Strangers: Evidence on a Neglected Arena of the Deliberative System. Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 64(3), 499-523.
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger & Schnaudt, Christian
  
• Everyday Political Talk with Strangers: The Missing Link in the Deliberative System. [80th Annual Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), Chicago, IL, April 13th to April 16th, 2023].
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger & Christian Schnaudt
  
• Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How Social Projection and Social Sampling Interact in the Formation of Public Opinion Perceptions. Informationsflüsse, Wahlen und Demokratie, 85-116. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG.
  Ellerbrock, Simon & Neumann, Manuel
  
• Political Talk and the Triad of Democratic Citizenship. Journal of Deliberative Democracy, 19(1).
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger & Schnaudt, Christian
  
• Wie deliberativ ist die politische Alltagskommunikation?. [Invited Talk at the Institut für Sozialwissenschaften der Universität Stuttgart - Abt. für Politische Theorie und Empirische Demokratieforschung, Stuttgart, June 04th, 2023].
  Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger & Christian Schnaudt
  
• Keeping It Inside the Family - Explaining Differences in Men’s and Women’s Participation in Public, Semi-Public, and Private Discursive Spheres. [5th Annual Meeting of the German Political Psychology Network, Vienna, September 19th to September 20th 2024].
  Neumann, Manuel
  
• Reden Bürger*innen gerne über Politik? Wie politische und soziale Dispositionen unsere Einstellung zu politischen Gesprächen beeinflussen
  Neumann, Manuel, Maxim Ziegler & Clarissa Périssé