A comprehensive collection that offers an overview of digital technologies and democratic practice, this Companion explores the topic of digital media and democracy from a historically rich and socio‑culturally broad perspective.
Edited by one of the foremost leaders in the field, Zizi Papacharissi, this cutting‑edge collection outlines the current state of theory and research in the field and maps out trajectories for future scholarship and study. Contributors explore how a variety of digital technologies afford democratic practices, examine different genres of social media, consider networked platforms, contemplate the ways in which platforms are presently morphing into mediascapes of the future, including related issues such as algorithmic bias, data justice, predatory practices online, and the role of AI, as well as other digitally enabled behaviors that often liberate and confine at the same time. Championing global and cross‑cultural diversity and complexity throughout, the Companion highlights the lessons learned from the technologies of the past and the challenges presented by contemporary and future technologies, and imagines new democratic practices and digital tropes of participation that may emerge in the future.
This book is an essential reading for students and scholars interested in the impact of digital media and technology upon politics and public life.
Table of Contents:
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
Zizi Papacharissi
FOUNDATIONS & THEORY
2. TOGETHER WE CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS: UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS TO SHAPE DEMOCRATIC DELIBERATIONS
Brooke Foucault Welles, Sagar Kumar and Sharaj Kunjar
3. EMOTION, DIGITAL MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY
Johana Kotisova and Karin Wahl-Jorgensen
4. THE PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC DISCOURSE: SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS' CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRACY
Raquel Recuero and Camilla Quesada Tavares
5. THE TRANSNATIONAL PUBLIC SPHERE IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL CHALLENGES – PROMISES AND THREATS OF DIGITAL MEDIA TO DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
Barbara Pfetsch, Curd Knüpfer and Annett Heft
6. DIGITALIZING DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA: INTERROGATING SHORTCOMINGS AND EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENHANCED PARTICIPATION
Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey and Michael Etrue
7. TECHNOSOCIAL IMAGINARIES AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS
Adrienne Russell
8. DIGITAL RESSENTIMENT, POLARIZATION, AND THE NEOLIBERAL LOGICS OF PAIN
Megan Boler
9. POLARIZATION AND CONNECTION IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Talia Stroud
10. FROM CYBERDEMOCRACY TO CYBERAUTOCRACY: THE SHIFTING POLITICAL AND MEDIATED LANDSCAPES IN THE ARAB WORLD
Sahar Khamis
11. THE IMPACT OF AI ON DEMOCRACY
Yin Yang, Timilehin Durotoye, and Homero Gil de Zúñiga
PRACTICES: ENGAGEMENT, PARTICIPATION, AND VOICE
12. WHAT IS GONE AND WHAT REMAINS IN THE RESEARCH ON DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT?
Andrew Chadwick
13. FEATURE, NOT BUG: TOWARDS A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR ONLINE INCIVILITY
Patrícia Rossini
14. WHEN PARTICIPATION THREATENS DEMOCRACY: THE CASE OF ANTI-ABORTION INFLUENCERS
Zelly C. Martin and Samuel C. Woolley
15. DEMOCRACY “INSIDE OUT”: ON FAR-RIGHT REFRACTED PUBLICS IN BRAZIL
Letícia Maria Costa da Nóbrega Cesarino, Leonardo Fernandes Nascimento, and Paulo Fonseca
16. MISINFORMED OR UNINFORMED: SCALABLE INTERVENTIONS FOR A LOW-KNOWLEDGE CITIZENRY
Dhavan V. Shah, Sijia Yang and Michael Wagner
17. NEWS AVOIDANCE AND DIGITAL INEQUALITIES IN NEWS USE
Antonis Kalogeropoulos
PRACTICES: TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND SOCIAL CHANGE
18. RE-STACK-TIONARY: THE INFRASTRUCTURAL TURN IN FAR-RIGHT DIGITAL MEDIA
Reed Van Schenck
19. VIRALITY AND REVERSAL: HOW RIGHT-WING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS CO-OPT AND MANIPULATE DIGITAL NETWORKS
Meredith L. Pruden and Caitlin Apone
20. USING TECHNOLOGY TO DRIVE SOCIAL CHANGE: DARK PARTICIPATION AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN BRAZIL
Josephine Lukito and Joao V. S. Ozawa
21. REVISITING RECREANCY
Christy Khoury and Calvin Cousin
22. LEGITIMATING RESISTANCE: EMPOWERING PRO-DEMOCRATIC JOURNALISM THROUGH ALTERNATIVE NEWS
Elliott Edsall and Matt Carlson
23. SHIFTING THE NARRATIVE: DIGITAL JOURNALISM STARTUPS AS CATALYSTS OF SOCIAL CHANGE
Alfred Hermida & Mary Lynn Young
24. ONLINE HATE SPEECH: CATALYSTS, CHALLENGES, AND PATHS TO SOCIAL CHANGE IN DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES
Raluca Buturoiu and Nicoleta Corbu
25. TECHNOLOGY AFFORDANCES AND COLLECTIVE ACTIONS: NOTES ON THE PARADOXICAL INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON PROTEST MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA
Karen Gheza, Marcelo Santos, and Sebastián Valenzuela
PRACTICES: DIGITAL POLITICS, POLICY & DEVELOPMENT
26. THE BANNON DOCTRINE: NETWORK INSURRECTIONISM AND DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDING
Marco Bastos and Olívia Freitas
27. THE MAKING OF MISINFORMED CHOICE: DIGITAL MEDIA, DEMOCRACY, AND NEW CHALLENGES TO ELECTORAL PRACTICES IN ASIA
Nishant Shah and Anushree Majumdar
28. DEMOCRATIC VALUES AND PRACTICES IN THE AGE OF DISINFORMATION, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND AI
José Emilio García, Norma Elva Chávez, and Saiph Savage
29. REIMAGINING LOCAL NEWS AND INFORMATION ECOSYSTEMS FOR TODAY’S DEMOCRACY
Andrea Lorenz
30. EMPIRICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DIGITAL MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE PLATFORM GOVERNANCE
Philipp Lorenz-Spreen
31. ETHIOPIA’S CIVIL WAR AND PATTERNS OF EXCLUSION IN GLOBAL CONTENT MODERATION REGIMES
Kirubel Tadesse and Samantha Bradshaw
32. BEYOND TOKEN DEMOCRACY: AI, SELF DETERMINATION, AND THE QUESTION OF INCLUSIVE GLOBAL REGULATION
Scott Timcke and Herman Wasserman
33. #REJECTFINANCEBILL2024: GEN Z’S SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVISM, DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE IN KENYA
Fredrick Ogenga
FUTURES
34. DIGITAL MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY: COPING WITH AMBIVALENCE
Cristian Vaccari
35. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA CONTRIBUTES TO DEMOCRATIC EROSION
Jesper Strömbäck and Mathilda Åkerlund
36. NETWORKED REPETITION AND GRASSROOTS STRUGGLES FOR ALTERNATIVE DIGITAL FUTURES
Guobin Yang
37. FUTURE-PROOFING EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN DEMOCRACY
Chikezie E. Uzuegbunam
38. FEELING FEMINIST FUTURES IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS
Margreth Lünenborg and Ana Makhashvili
INDEX
About the Author :
Zizi Papacharissi is a UIC Distinguished Professor of Communication and Political Science at the University of Illinois‑Chicago and Department Head of Communication. She is also a university scholar and affiliate faculty with the Discovery Partners Institute at the University of Illinois System. Her work focuses on the social and political consequences of online media. She has published ten books and over 80 journal articles and book chapters, and serves on the editorial board of 15 journals. Zizi is the founding and current editor of the open access journal Social Media & Society. Her work has been translated in Greek, German, Korean, Chinese, Hungarian, Italian, Turkish, and Persian.
