Political Talk and the Triad of Democratic Citizenship

Abstract

Deliberative democracy’s core practice of political discussion is often claimed to entail beneficial ‘self-transformative’ effects on its participants. We examine the assumption that political talk leads to ‘better citizens’ with a focus on democratic orientations. Drawing on extant research on political culture and participation, we conceptualize these orientations as a triad of democratic citizenship that entails three pillars: (1) the attitudinal dimension of citizens’ support for the democratic political system whose members they are, (2) the normative dimension of views about ‘good’ citizenship, and (3) the behavioral dimension of active participation in the democratic political process. Our study aims for the ‘grand picture’ of how these orientations are affected by engagement and disagreement experiences in political talk across four discursive spheres: (i) informal conversations of a private nature within strong network ties (family and friends), (ii) of a semi-public nature within weak network ties (acquaintances), and (iii) of a public nature outside social networks (strangers), as well as (iv) formalized public discussions at organized events. Analyzing two high-quality surveys from Germany, we find unequivocally positive effects for engagement in informal-private and formalized public talk on political participation. The role of the semi-public discursive sphere appears ambivalent and overall weak. Strikingly, we observe strong indications that casual conversations with strangers weaken people’s support for the democratic system, participatory norms, and electoral participation. For some facets of democratic citizenship, disagreement experiences matter as well, and their effects are always positive.