Online political conversation and its interfaces with deliberative processes: which room for inter-subjectivity?

Abstract

Deliberative tradition in Political Studies has regarded civic conversation as one of the fundaments of democracy. However, it seems that less attention has been paid for casual conversations, seen as trivial and therefore unsuitable for political interaction. This paper highlights the role of ordinary conversation in the constitution of citizenship, stressing the political elements that underline it. The argument goes threefold: (1) it states some differences between ‘deliberation’ and ‘conversation’; (b) it argues that ordinary conversation is potentially political conversation; (c) it points the place of self-narratives and of scenes of dissensus as the political elements of ordinary conversations and processes of public opinion formation.