Democratizing inequalities : dilemmas of the new public participation
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Bibliographic Information
Democratizing inequalities : dilemmas of the new public participation
New York University Press, c2015
- : hbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-279) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Opportunities to "have your say," "get involved," and "join the
conversation" are everywhere in public life. From crowdsourcing and town hall
meetings to government experiments with social media, participatory politics increasingly
seem like a revolutionary antidote to the decline of civic engagement and the
thinning of the contemporary public sphere. Many argue that, with new
technologies, flexible organizational cultures, and a supportive policymaking
context, we now hold the keys to large-scale democratic revitalization.
Democratizing Inequalities shows that the equation may not be so
simple. Modern societies face a variety of structural problems that limit
potentials for true democratization, as well as vast inequalities in political
action and voice that are not easily resolved by participatory solutions. Popular
participation may even reinforce elite power in unexpected ways. Resisting an
oversimplified account of participation as empowerment, this collection of
essays brings together a diverse range of leading scholars to reveal surprising
insights into how dilemmas of the new public participation play out in politics
and organizations. Through investigations including fights over the
authenticity of business-sponsored public participation, the surge of the Tea
Party, the role of corporations in electoral campaigns, and participatory
budgeting practices in Brazil, Democratizing
Inequalities seeks to refresh our understanding of public participation and
trace the reshaping of authority in today's political environment.
Table of Contents
Contents Part II Participation and the Reproduction of Inequality 2 Civic-izing Markets: Selling Social Profits in Public Deliberation 27 3 Workers' Rights as Human Rights? Solidarity Campaigns and the Anti-Sweatshop Movement 46 4 Legitimating the Corporation through Public Participation 66 Part III The Production of Authority and Legitimacy 5 No Contest: Participatory Technologies and the Transformation of Urban Authority 83 6 The Fiscal Sociology of Public Consultation 102 7 Structuring Electoral Participation: The Formalization of Democratic New Media Campaigning, 2000 - 2008 125 8 Patient, Parent, Advocate, Investor: Entrepreneurial Health Activism from Research to Reimbursement 143 Part IV Unintended Consequences and New Opportunities 9 Spirals of Perpetual Potential: How Empowerment Projects' Noble Missions Tangle in Everyday Interaction 165 10 Becoming a Best Practice: Neoliberalism and the Curious Case of Participatory Budgeting 187 11 The Social Movement Society, the Tea Party, and the Democratic Deficit 204 12 Public Deliberation and Political Contention 222 Part V Conclusion 13 Realizing the Promise of Public Participation in an Age of Inequality 247
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