Read any useful research lately, unanswered research questions
From:
Michael Allan
Date:
Jul 19 08:22 UTC
Short link
tom.kaneko wrote:
> To me, the hypotheses I would like tested are: "there is an
> unsatisfied appetite for democratic participation on the internet"
> "mass collaboration in our political system is possible and
> desirable" but I am already on the case with these points!
I think I understand what you mean by "mass collaboration". I think
you mean a functioning public sphere. I just finished reading a book
(written way back in 1962) that ends with these points:
C. W. Mills, by contrasting "public" and "mass," obtained
empirically usable criteria for a definition of public opinion.
In a *public*, as we may understand the term, (1) virtually as
many people express opinions as receive them. (2) Public
commununications are so organized that there is a chance
immediately and effectively to answer back any opinion expressed
in public. Opinion formed by such discussion (3) readily finds an
outlet in effective action, even against - if necessary - the
prevailing system of authority. And (4) authoritative
institutions do not penetrate the public, which is thus more or
less autonomous in its operation.
Conversely, opinions cease to be public opinions in the proportion
to which they are enmeshed in the communicative interchanges that
characterize a "mass":
In a *mass*, (1) far fewer people express opinions than receive
them; for the community of publics becomes an abstract collection
of individuals who receive impressions from the mass media. (2)
The communications that prevail are so organized that it is
difficult or impossible for the individual to answer back
immediately or with any effect. (3) The realization of opinion in
action is controlled by authorities who organize and control the
channels of such action. (4) The mass has no autonomy from
institutions; on the contrary, agents of authorized institutions
penetrate this mass, reducing any autonomy it may have in the
formation of opinion by discussion.
(Mills "The Power Elite", quoted by Habermas in "The Structural
Transformation of the Public Sphere")
Isn't that extraordinary? Reading that, I was thinking - here it is,
they've documented for us the requirements of the technology! And now
when you speak of an experiment in democratic participation, I can't
help thinking - there, it has already been conducted! Because these
points aren't just theoretical, they are quoted to sum up a work of
historical sociology that covers a period from the late 1700's through
the mid 1800's. According to the author, that is the period when a
functioning public sphere last existed.
So it strikes me as a kind of experiment. If the author is right,
then participative democracy has already been proven. And to
replicate it, all it takes is to run that experiment in reverse. All
it takes is to employ our technology to undo certain effects of the
industrial revolution, of mass production, of mass media - to undo the
party system - and there we'll have it.