Participation as a Pastime: Political Discussion in a Queer Community Online

Abstract

This paper is based on a research project studying political discussions in the Swedish queer online community Qruiser. The research is netnographic through online participant observations in ­political forum discussions on Qruiser as well as participant interviews during November 2012. Acknowledging sites of popular culture as pivotal for political participation, together with the importance of affinity communities for engaging subjectively in larger political issues, this explorative study discusses what type of participation took place on Qruiser. Using as its point of departure deliberative and radical pluralist approaches to participation, the paper concludes that the participation in Qruiser can neither be described as deliberation nor agonism. Rather, a picture emerges of rude and antagonistic participation as a pastime, a way to have fun.

KEYWORDS:

• agonism
• antagonism
• deliberative democracy
• flaming
• identity
• online community
• political participation
• queer
• radical pluralism
• trolling

ORCID

Jakob Svensson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5097-6218

Notes

1. See https://www.qruiser.com

Additional information

Funding

This work was partly supported by the Nils Eric Svensson scholarship for young researchers.

Jakob Svensson (corresponding author) is Associate Professor in Media and Communication Studies, Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.