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elections – and qualitative data – 60 interviews with teenagers and young adults (14-to-25-year-olds) - collected in Germany, Italy and the UK as part
of a comparative research project on the relationship between social media and politics in Europe. Drawing on young people’s self-narrated experiences
of political talk on social media, the contribution will identify the motivations and barriers that support or hinder political discussion on Facebook. More
specifically, the analysis will be focused on the rise in hate speech and discriminatory content on Facebook and on the different attitudes that interviewees
adopt to cope with it. While for some interviewees the frustration experienced in online debates discourages self-expression and engagement in political
discussions, for others hate speech and verbal flames are just collateral and manageable effects of a freedom of expression that has never been so wide‑
spread. The discussion will bring to the fore the contextual elements that help explain differences in young people’s orientations towards online political
talk, such as perceptions of social desirability – whereby talking politics in public is undesirable within certain social circles – pre-existing interest in politics
and the perceived communication skills that help people manage conflicts and engage in meaningful online political discussions.
PP 171 Everyday Political Talk and Emerging Spaces for Deliberation in China: How Chinese Citizens Are Talking Politics on a Governmental
Online Platform
Y. Sun1, T. Graham1, M. Broersma1
1 University of Groningen, Department of Media Studies and Journalism, Groningen, Netherlands
This paper argues that to understand the complexity of the Chinese deliberative internet culture, which is shaped by the grey areas between control,
censorship and expression, we should analyze users’online discourses in relation to their everyday life and lived experiences. It moves beyond stereotypical
perceptions of online political contestation between the state and its citizens by conducting an in-depth analysis of everyday political talk on the Chinese
governmental BBS forum Qiangguo Luntan, a 'central propaganda space”hosted by the official online media People’s Net (Jiang, 2010). Analyzing a heavily
state controlled platform allows us to study how users negotiate the boundaries of civic engagement and political contestation. We focus on political talk
on childcare and parenting, public health and the environment, a type of everyday activism in which ordinary people exert influence on politics through
communication on topics that are considered not to be at the center of politics (Mansbridge, 1999). A multilayered content analysis of 1,810 postings
was conducted in order to comprehensively capture the political talk and participatory characteristics of Qiangguo Luntan users. Our analysis is guided by
a three-level coding scheme which included: a normative evaluation of the deliberativeness of political talk; an analysis of other non-deliberative speech
acts; as well as the use of emotions. The coding scheme allowed for an in-depth look at grassroots modes of political engagement at the micro level and
examine if, even on state governed political platforms, an online space for deliberation is emerging and what is acceptable to discuss. Today, given that
nearly half of the Chinese population are online, a pressing question is if and how this might bring change to Chinese society in its current phase of social
transformation. Although in scholarship (Yang, 2009) the liberating potentials of Chinese Internet and the opportunities it offers to form a civil society have
been pointed out, we now observe a series of controlling measures employed by the state, including self-censorship caused by them, that damage this
nascent public sphere. Studying everyday online political talk looks beyond political deliberation in formal settings such as party (CCP) organized political
consultation or public hearings, to explore individual citizens’ online activities, political agency and power struggles rooted in their daily life. Our findings
indicate that criticism of political policies or rule of the state in general was generally expressed through reasoned arguments and complaints, but we also
found a high percentage of anger. Discussions were scarce, with limited interaction and opposing views. Moreover, a lot of humor was used to, on the one
hand, strongly critique the government and on the other hand, soften criticism or questioning. References Mansbridge, Jane (1999). Everyday talk in the de‑
liberative system in Stephen Macedo (ed.), Deliberative Politics: Essays on Democracy and Disagreement, Oxford University Press. Jiang, M. (2010). Author‑
itarian deliberation on Chinese Internet. Electronic Journal of Communication, 20 (3&4). Retrieved from
html Yang, G. (2009). The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online, New York: Columbia University Press.