Doctoral Dissertation Research: Agenda Setting and Framing in Citizen Deliberation

威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的埃里克·O·赖特这项研究研究了新的公民参与政策制定的论坛是否为所有参与者提供了实质上的平等机会。一些对新的公民参与论坛持批评态度的人担心，社会地位、受教育程度和语言技巧较高的参与者将主导讨论，并制定与他们的利益不成比例的政策。该项目将利用现实世界公民政策审议的文字记录，系统地分析公民政治决策过程中的公民谈话。分析将集中在两个问题上：第一，谁设定了讨论的议程？通过考察引入新话题的模式，这项研究将评估不同社会群体的成员能够在多大程度上设定讨论议程。其次，谁的利益被用来框定特定政策结果的论据？这项研究将系统地追踪在审议过程中用来框定论点的兴趣和标准，以及小组其他成员采用的框架和论点。这项研究对社会学和政治学做出了几项重要贡献。之前的研究通过分析参与者的人口统计特征或计算发言次数来衡量参与者的平等程度。这项研究提出，衡量新想法的引入可以让我们更好地了解不同参与者在决策过程中是否具有实质上同等的影响力。更广泛地说，这项研究将通过提供经验证据来解决对公民参与的一项重要批评，从而有助于关于公民参与和政治言论的辩论。最后，来自国家科学基金会的资金将允许创建和传播一种罕见的数据形式：公民政治决策的真实世界练习的完整对话记录。这项研究的更大目标是解决这样一个问题，即新的公民参与论坛是否赋予妇女、少数民族和年轻人等政治代表性不足的群体以权力。

SES-0623126Erik O. WrightAmy LangUniversity of Wisconsin MadisonThis research studies whether new forums for citizen participation in policy making provide substantively equal opportunities to all those who are involved. Some critics of new citizen participation forums are concerned that participants with higher social status, education and rhetorical skill will dominate discussions and shape policy to disproportionately suit their interests. Using transcripts of real-world citizen policy deliberations the project will systematically analyze citizen talk over the course of citizen political decision-making. The analysis will focus on two questions: first, who sets the agenda for discussion? By examining patterns in the introduction of new topics of conversation, the research will evaluate the degree to which members of different social groups are able to set the agenda for discussion. Second, whose interests are used to frame the arguments for a particular policy outcome? The research will systematically trace the interests and criteria that are used to frame arguments in the course of deliberation, and what frames and arguments get picked up by the rest of the group. This study makes several important contributions to sociology and political science. Previous research has measured participant equality by analyzing the demographic characteristics of participants, or by counting speaking turns. This study proposes that measuring the introduction of new ideas can give us a better understanding of whether different participants have substantively equal influence in decision-making processes. More broadly, the study will contribute to debates about citizen participation and political talk by providing empirical evidence that addresses an important criticism of citizen participation. Finally, funding from the NSF will allow for the creation and dissemination of a rare form of data: complete conversation transcripts of a real-world exercise in citizen political decision-making. The larger goals of the research are to address the question of whether new forums for citizen participation are empowering to politically under-represented groups such as women, ethnic minorities, and young people.