Subactivism lifeworld and politics in the age of the Internet

Abstract

Since the early years of its emergence the Internet has sparked curiosity, debates, and dreams revolving around its likely role in the reinvigoration of democracy. An area of lively scholarly debate on this topic has taken shape following the early speculations by pundits and futurists (see overviews by Feenberg, 2008; Friedland, 1996). Distinct schools of political theory have envisioned the democratizing potential of the Internet differently depending on the model of democracy informing their projections (Street, 1997; Dahlberg, 2001; Jenkins & Thorburn, 2003; Agre, 2002).