Social Media as a Public Sphere? Politics on Social Media

ABSTRACT

Social media platforms are popular sites, attracting millions of users who connect digitally. This has prompted some to argue that social media has promoted the return of Habermas’s ([1989] 1991) public sphere. We use data from in-depth interviews with Millennials and Generation Xers to refute this claim. Specifically, our results suggest that respondents do not engage in communicative action typical of the public sphere because they avoid political discourse online. Three factors influence this: (1) fear of online harassment and workplace surveillance; (2) engagement only with politically similar others; and (3) characterization of social media as a place for “happy” interactions. In addition, we find that these three factors interrelate, often sequentially, and we explore similarities and minor differences between Millennials and Generation Xers regarding each factor.

KEYWORDS:

• Civil discourse
• politics
• public sphere
• social media

Funding

This work was supported by several internal Faculty Research Grants from the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

Notes

1. Habermas’s ([1989] 1991) standards for discourse conducive to the public sphere (for example, reaching agreement) are likely too high to be achieved. However, it is important to strive for these ideals as they relate to civil discourse and the inclusion of a diversity of voices. Doing so supports meaningful and useful discourse and attention to inclusion in conversation, even among discussions that do not achieve the high standards set forth by Habermas. Most authors researching politics on social media assume that civil discourse helps to create democracy. Because we are primarily in conversation with those authors, we use this foundation for our study as well. However, civil discourse is only one element of a healthy democracy. In addition, Schudson (1997) argues the reverse—that democracy’s norms and institutions create civil discourse by setting ground rules and a safe tone so as to include less powerful people.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by several internal Faculty Research Grants from the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

Notes on contributors

Lisa M. Kruse

Lisa M. Kruse is an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse where she teaches courses in methods, criminology and criminal justice, and sociology. Her research centers on applications of surveillance, particularly within social media and the criminal justice system.

Dawn R. Norris

Dawn R. Norris is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. She takes both quantitative and qualitative approaches to study the intersections of identity, age/generations, mental health, and work/occupations, with a special focus on identity transitions. She is the author of Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health (Rutgers University Press 2016), and has published in journals such as Symbolic Interaction, Research on Aging, Sociological Spectrum, and Teaching Sociology.

Jonathan R. Flinchum

Jonathan R. Flinchum is a doctoral student in the Organizational Science program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His primary research interests involve: health and well-being in the workplace; goals, progress, and achievement; as well as identity.