Speaking of Participation

While participation in public life is generally agreed to beimportant for governance and citizenship, scholars focused on talk-orientedparticipation (in the Tocquevillian tradition) suggest that there is a participationdeficit in the American public sphere. Qualitative analysis of responses from 60interview respondents about whether or not they are participants in four prominentAmerican debates suggests a novel explanation for this apparent deficit: Persons whomanalysts classify as non-participants may believe that they are already participating,because their understanding of participation is not based on public political talk.Moreover, individual responses about participation vary substantially by debate,suggesting that what counts as participation is more fluid for respondents than foranalysts. Implications for public sphere studies are discussed