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Expanding the Public Sphere through Computer-Mediated Communication: Political Discussion about Abortion in a Usenet Newsgroup by Steven M. Schneider Submitted to the Department of Political Science on May 2, 1997 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science ABSTRACT This thesis examines a conversation about abortion that occurred within the Usenet newsgroup “talk.abortion” between April 1, 1994 and March 31, 1995. It tests the hypothesis that the form of discourse fostered by computer mediated discussion provides opportunities to expand the informal zone of the public sphere. Specific criteria by which a public sphere can be evaluated for its goodness of fit with the idealized public sphere described by Habermas are proposed and applied to the ongoing conversation. The conversation analyzed consisted of nearly 46,000 messages written by almost three thousand authors in nearly 8,500 different threads. The public sphere created by the participants in the newsgroup was found to be diverse and reciprocal, but lacking in equality and quality. Equality, achieved with equal distribution of voice among the speakers, was not found in the newsgroup conversation, as participation was highly concentrated among a few participants. Quality, measured by the tendency of participants in the newsgroup to stay “on-topic,” was also lacking in the group. On the other hand, the conversation was found to be highly diverse, as its size contracted and expanded considerably over time, and the participants included both a consistent, regular group as well as a subset of constantly changing contributors. Finally, the authors in the newsgroup were reciprocal with many others, and groups of participants were not systematically excluded from interaction by other groups. Newsgroups are unquestionably a component of the informal zone of the public sphere. Thus, it is suggested that the definition of the public sphere be expanded to include all forms of “associational space,” providing the opportunity for citizens to converse with each other. Even those forms of associational space with no clearly identified political activity resulting from the discussions contribute to the opinion- and will-formation exercise that is the function of the public sphere in a democratic society. Usenet newsgroups provide extensive opportunities for individuals to comment freely and autonomously on topics of public concern, and more importantly to engage in public discourse with other citizens about these issues. Thesis Supervisor: Joshua Cohen Title: Professor of Political Science and Philosophy
Contents Acknowledgements 7 1 Computers, Conversation and Democracy 8 1.1 talk.abortion – August 9, 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.2 Democracy and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2 The Public Sphere 14 2.1 Discourse and the Public Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2.2 The Idealized Public Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.3 The Liberal Public Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 2.4 Dimensions of the Public Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 2.5 The Informal Public Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 3 Technology & the Public Sphere 43 3.1 Technology and the Shape of the Public Sphere . . . . . . . . . . 43 3.2 Computer mediated Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 3.3 Usenet: An Arena Of Computer Mediated Discussion . . . . . . . 51 3.4 The Social and Political Structure of Usenet . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 4 Abortion Discourse in the Public Sphere 57 4.1 Historic Overview of Abortion Policy in the United States . . . . 58 4.2 Abortion Discourse in the Public Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 5 Measuring the Public Sphere 69 5.1 Study Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 5.2 Dimensions of the Public Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 6 Analyzing the talk.abortion Newsgroup 76 3
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CHAPTER 3. TECHNOLOGY & THE PUBLIC
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Chapter 4 Abortion Discourse in the
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CHAPTER 4. ABORTION DISCOURSE IN TH
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Chapter 5 Measuring the Public Sphe
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CHAPTER 5. MEASURING THE PUBLIC SPH
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CHAPTER 6. ANALYZING THE TALK.ABORT
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Chapter 7 The Expanding Public Sphe
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CHAPTER 7. THE EXPANDING PUBLIC SPH
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CHAPTER 7. THE EXPANDING PUBLIC SPH
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Appendix A The talk.abortion newsgr
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APPENDIX A. TALK.ABORTION: AUGUST 9
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Appendix B Density Scores Table B.1
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APPENDIX B. DENSITY SCORES 165 Tabl
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Appendix C Supplemental Analysis 16
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APPENDIX C. SUPPLEMENTAL ANALYSIS 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 177 Best, Michael L. 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 181 Hiltz, Starr Roxan
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 185 Pateman, Carole. 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 187 Savicki, Victor, D
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 189 U. S. Congress, Of
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