Political Discussion on Social Media and the Public Sphere

Abstract

The Internet is both a remediation and a cause of the destabilization of participatory democracy. This paper argues that social media fails as a functional public sphere; nevertheless, social media encourages civic engagement in nuanced ways. Social media imitates a structural public sphere; defined by Jurgen Habermas as an arena where citizens discuss public affairs. Social media fails as a public sphere because continuous surveillance and examination undermine public opinion. Instead social media succeeds through communicating political myths. Ronald Barthes defined political myths as cultural narratives that are encapsulated within an icon. In addition, using Kendall Walton’s theory on mimesis, it is argued that political discourse online is experienced as a game with the use of icons. Previous research suggests a correlation between political discourse online and civic engagement offline; researchers continue to search for a causal relationship between political discourse on social media and attendance to civic engagement activities. In conclusion the culmination political myths, power, and mimesis drive social media users to participate in civic engagement activities. The Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri is used as a case study.