Abstract
In this manuscript we consider the inconsistent ways the concept of “counterpublics” has been taken up in the field to make the claim that considerations of social power must be recentered ...in the theorization of publics. To do this we provide an in-depth genealogy of the concept of counterpublics, analyze its use by critical scholars, and then consider its application in empirical studies of digital networks and right-wing publics. We argue that scholars studying digital and far-right publics in particular must take the critical analysis of power seriously. Through this lens, we show that classifying right-wing movements as “defensive” is more theoretically and empirically accurate. In doing so, we conceptualize public spheres as indelible outgrowths of social structures, even as they work to transform them in turn, and provide a framework for scholars to understand public spheres through the lens of history, social differentiation, relations, resources, and access.
This article discusses the post-public sphere and the regulation of platforms that have had disruptive effects on democracy. Platformisation means that the normative ideals for a political public ...sphere set out by Jürgen Habermas face a distinctive challenge. "Neo-regulation" is an evolving adaption by states that reflects the urgent need to address platformisation and digitalisation more generally. In conditions of geopolitical competition, notably between the China and US, attempts by various states and the EU to establish a neo-regulatory order has developed a significant national security dimension, which is highly relevant for the regulation of digital communication. Policing borders and content is an ever-present focus in all political regimes, whether characterised as democratic or authoritarian. Applying Pierre Bourdieu's field theory to internet regulation, the argument is illustrated by reference to current British regulatory practice. At the level of the state, the "regulatory field" is shaped by national and global forces. Although the British case has specific characteristics, the underlying analysis has general relevance for comparative research.
This study investigates social media usage patterns, Twitter' frequency use and message typologies of selected South African female politicians'. Using the digital public sphere theory as a lens, the ...study considers six hundred Twitter posts from six female politicians from the African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, and Economic Freedom Fighters political parties to examine the potential of social media for visibility and participation, particularly for female politicians who are underrepresented in mainstream media platforms. The study finds that these politicians leverage digital media to promote their public works, challenging media gatekeeping and asserting agency in shaping public discourse. The findings also reveal the strategic use of social media for self-promotion allowing female politicians to enhance visibility, influence public perception, and consolidate their positions.
Various literature has examined how affordances of online media such as openness and connectivity have constituted digital counterpublics, that is, discursive arenas where members of subordinate ...social groups invent and circulate oppositional interpretations of their identities. At the same time, and in sharp contrast to the bilateral nature of online media, most of this literature has focused on content produced by the group members only, without addressing neither its acceptance by the hegemonic public nor the internal discursive negotiations surrounding it. Using the Facebook page “Write it down! I’m an Arab” as a case study, the current study examines the role played by reader comments in the formation of networked counterpublics. We found that reader comments expand the counterpublic sphere in two directions: vertical and horizontal. Vertically, they produce an interface between the dominant public sphere and the counterpublic sphere. Horizontally, they function as a discursive arena within the group members.
Abstract
“The” public sphere is now irretrievably fractured into a multiplicity of online and offline, larger and smaller, more or less public spaces that frequently (and often serendipitously) ...overlap and intersect with one another. This diverse array of what have been described variously as public spheres, public spherules, platform publics, issue publics, or personal publics nonetheless serves many of the same functions that were postulated for the public sphere itself. However, while the communicative structures, functions, and dynamics of many such spaces have been studied in isolation, we still lack a more comprehensive model that connects such case studies in pursuit of an overarching perspective. This article sets out a fundamental toolkit for the development of such an empirically founded model of the contemporary spaces for public communication. It identifies the crucial conceptual building blocks and empirical approaches that may be combined to produce genuinely new insights into how the network of such spaces is structured, and in turn structures our everyday experience of public communication.
This article addresses how constructivist grounded theorists grapple with conducting their research and use the method for social justice research and critical inquiry in the public sphere. To ...explicate how using this method ensues, I sought reflections from four researchers explaining why they adopted the method and how they used it. I also reviewed more than 40 constructivist grounded theory studies concerning research in the public sphere to illuminate the authors’ methodological strategies and decisions. These researchers’ reflexive stance toward their preconceptions, positions, and research actions supports exploring critical questions and fosters using grounded theory strategies to answering them.
Digital capitalism matters. Digital capitalism shapes our lives. Digital capitalism needs to be better understood. We need critical theories of digital capitalism. We need to better understand praxes ...that challenge digital capitalism and aim at fostering digital democracy and digital socialism. tripleC’s special issue on “Critical Perspectives on Digital Capitalism: Theories and Praxis” wants to contribute to establishing foundations of critical theories and the philosophy of praxis in the light of digital capitalism. This article introduces the topic and provides an overview of the special issue.
Empirical studies show that though there is more room for improvement, much progress has been made toward gender equality since the second wave of feminism. Evidence also suggests that women’s ...advancements have been more dramatic in the public sphere of work and politics than in the private sphere of family life. We argue that this lopsided gender progress may be traced to uneven changes in gender attitudes. Using data from more than 27,000 respondents who participated in the General Social Survey from 1977 through 2016, we show that gender attitudes have more than one underlying dimension and that these dimensions have changed at different rates over time. Using latent class analysis, we find that the distribution of respondents’ attitudes toward gender equality has changed over the past 40 years. There has been an increase in the number of egalitarians who support equality in public and private spheres, while the traditionals who historically opposed equality in both domains have been replaced by ambivalents who feel differently about gender equality in the public and private spheres. Meanwhile, successive birth cohorts are becoming more egalitarian, with Generation-Xers and Millennials being the most likely to hold strong egalitarian views. The feminist revolution has succeeded in promoting egalitarian views and decreasing the influence of gender traditionalism, but has yet to convince a substantial minority that gender equality should extend to both public and private spheres of social life
The article explores Bitchute, a video-hosting platform associated with the Far/Alt Right, with the aim of understanding how it reconfigures political communication and the digital public sphere. ...Methodologically, the article employs the walkthrough method and non-participant observation to identify the main features and functionalities offered to users. These include a set of values that prioritise creators, an algorithmic organisation that keeps users engaged with a single creator channel rather than with the same topic across channels; and embedded buttons for tips and pledges for creators enabling them to directly monetise their content. The content posted on Bitchute tends to coalesce around politicised cultural issues. It is noteworthy that although Bitchute hosts some advertising, it does not use data for microtargeting and in general makes limited use of user data. We interpret these findings as suggesting that Bitchute constitutes a media infrastructure that encourages, incentivises and sustains microcelebrities of the Far/Alt Right, who act as ideology entrepreneurs. Bitchute can therefore be seen as an infrastructure for the multiplication/sustenance of ideological entrepreneurs/political influencers who vie for the attention and money of far-right publics. If we can speak of a structural transformation of the public sphere associated with Alt Tech, our discussion of Bitchute suggests that this takes the form of a political media infrastructure that enables the continued existence and consolidation of a new type of political actor, the ideology entrepreneur.
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