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#Participating #Contesting: Studying Counterpublics’ Discourses on Twitter About the Social Acceptability of Medical Assistance in Dying Legislation in Canada
Author(s) -
Lalancette Mireille,
Yates Stéphanie,
Rouillard CarolAnn
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
canadian review of sociology/revue canadienne de sociologie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.414
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1755-618X
pISSN - 1755-6171
DOI - 10.1111/cars.12303
Subject(s) - opposition (politics) , legislation , empowerment , politics , political science , social media , public relations , sociology , media studies , law
This article explores debates on medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada as they unfolded on Twitter before its adoption in June 2016. The opposition, which came from diverse groups—religious, experts, politicians—led to polarizing debates about the social acceptability of this measure. Our finding shows that the so‐called lay citizens refused to leave the discussion to experts and politicians and got involved in the debates around the issue. Our results also show that Twitter was mainly used to share information, hence complementing the role of traditional media. Overall, the platform gave rise to an “ambient political participation,” allowing minority or marginalized groups as well as lay citizens to share their knowledge and opinion about MAID. This may have favored a certain form of empowerment.