‘We need to get together and make ourselves heard’: everyday online spaces as incubators of political action

ABSTRACT

This article examines to what extent, and how, people engaging in political talk within ‘non-political’ discussion forums – online lifestyle communities – leads to political (or personal) action or calls-to-action. The analysis is framed in the context of wider questions of citizenship, civic engagement and political mobilization. To capture everyday political talk amongst citizens requires us to move beyond the now widely analysed online spaces of formal politics. Instead, we focus on online third spaces concerning lifestyle issues such as parenting, personal finance and popular culture. Drawing on a content analysis of three popular UK-based discussion forums over the course of five years (2010–2014), we found that (for two of the three cases) such spaces were more than just talking shops. Rather they were spaces where political actions not only emerged, but where they seemed to be cultivated. Discussions embedded in the personal lives of participants often developed – through talk – into political actions aimed at government (or other) authorities. The article sheds light on the contributing factors and processes that (potentially) trigger and foster action emerging from political talk and provides insight into the mobilization potential of third spaces.

KEYWORDS:

• Civic engagement
• online communities
• online deliberation
• political mobilization
• political participation
• political talk

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Todd Graham is Assistant Professor in Journalism and Political Communication at the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies, University of Groningen. His main research interests are the use of new media in representative democracies, the intersections between popular culture and formal politics, online election campaigns, online deliberation and political talk, and online civic engagement. [email: [email protected]]

Dan Jackson is Principal Lecturer in Media and Communication at Bournemouth University. His research broadly explores the intersection of media and democracy, including news coverage of politics, the construction of news, political communication, and political talk in online environments. [email: [email protected]]

Scott Wright is Senior Lecturer in Political Communication, University of Melbourne. His research focuses on everyday political talk in non-political online third spaces; e-democracy; e-petitions; online deliberation; and journalism. [email: [email protected]]

ORCID

Todd Graham http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5634-7623

Scott Wright http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4087-9916

Notes

1. Note that for all three cases the number of sub-forums can change over time.

2. In the previous study, the 3000 threads were coded for the initial topic (e.g. parenting, personal finance, sports and politics) and the political topic that emerged (e.g. business/economy, education, health and social services/benefits). This allowed us to identify threads dealing with austerity and threads that start off as political.

3. The coding manual is available upon request.

4. Note that all quotes from the forum are included verbatim, including the often numerous typos and malapropisms. Example 1 comes from a thread where a single mother, and full-time student, was seeking advice on applying for Income Support.

5. For Ekman and Amna, talking politics is a form of latent political participation under civic engagement.