Avoiding or accepting conflict in public talk

British Journal of Political Science

Volumn 37, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 1-22

  Duchesne, Sophie ^a   Haegel, Florence ^b  

^a Centre for Political Research of Sciences   (France)

^b SCIENCES PO   (France)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33846062392     PISSN: 00071234     EISSN: 14692112     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0007123407000014     Document Type: Article

References (86)

1. Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1963).
2. Donald D. Searing, Pamela J. Conover, Ivor Crewe and Fred Soil, 'Studying Everyday Talk in the Deliberative System: Does Democratic Discussion Make Better Citizens?' (paper presented at the Conference on 'Empirical Approaches to Deliberative Polities', European University Institute, 2004).
3. William Gamson, Talking Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992);
4. Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding Politics: How Americans Produce Apathy in Everyday Life (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)
5. and, more recently, Katherine Kramer Walsh, Talking about Politics (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2004).
6. Pamela J. Conover, Donald Searing and Ivor Crewe, 'The Deliberative Potential of Discussion', British Journal of Political Science, 32 (2002), 21-62.
7. Georg Simmel, Conflict and the Web of Group Affiliation (London: The Free Press, 1955).
8. Chantal Mouffe, The Return of the Political (London: Verso, 1993);
9. Jacques Rancière, La Mésentente (Paris: Galilee, 1995).
10. Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, Democracy and Disagreement (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996);
11. Jon Elster, Deliberative Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998);
12. Stephen Macedo, Deliberative Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999);
13. Bernard Manin, 'On Legitimacy and Political Deliberation', Political Theory, 15 (1987), 338-68.
14. Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1976).
15. Carl Schmitt, The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, trans. Ellen Kennedy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985),p. 11
16. quoted by Chantai Mouffe, 'Carl Schmitt and the Paradox of Liberal Democracy', in Chantai Mouffe, ed., The Challenge of Carl Schmitt (London/New York: Verso, 1999), pp. 38-53, at p. 41.
17. 'Conflict fig. Of interests, opinions, statements, feelings, etc.: To come into collision, to clash; to be at variance, be incompatible. (Now the chief sense.)' Oxford English Dictionary.
18. Stein Rokkan, Citizens, Elections, Parties: Approaches to the Comparative Study of the Processes of Development (Oslo: Universitetsvolaget, 1970);
19. Alan Zuckermann, 'Political Cleavages: A Conceptual and Theoretical Analysis', British Journal of Political Science, 5 (1975), 231-48;
20. Alan Zuckermann, 'New Approaches to Political Cleavages', Comparative Politics, 15 (1982), 131-44;
21. Stefano Bartolini, 'La Formation des clivages', Revue internationale de politique comparée, 12 (2005), 9-34.
22. Sophie Duchesne and Florence Haegel, 'Entretiens dans la cité, ou comment la parole se politise', EspacesTempsLesCahiers, 76/77 (2001), 95-109.
23. Sophie Duchesne, Florence Haegel et al., 'Politisation et conflictualisation: de la compétence à l'implication', in Pascal Perrineau, ed., Le Désenchantement démocratique (La Tour d'Aigue: Les Editions de l'Aube, 2003);
24. Sophie Duchesne and Florence Haegel, L'Enquête et ses méthodes: Les entretiens collectifs (Paris: Nathan (collection 128), 2004).
25. David L. Morgan, Focus Groups as Qualitative Research, Qualitative Research Methods Series v. 16 (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1997);
26. Duchesne and Haegel, L'Enquête et ses méthodes.
27. Gamson, Talking Politics.
28. Jordan even left us his curriculum vitae.
29. 'How Discussion Becomes Political', a comparative research programme involving Elizabeth Frazer (New College, Oxford), André-Paul Frognier (University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) and the authors, funded by the French Ministry of Research, Sciences Po Paris, the Leverhulme Trust and the Belgian FNRS.
30. Jacques Gerstlé, 'Une Fenêtre d'opportunité électorale', in Pascal Perrineau and Colette Ysmal, eds, Le Vote de tous les refus (Paris: Presses de Sciences-Po, 2003), pp. 29-52.
31. There are three rules of the game that are formally laid down at the onset of the discussion: 'Speaking-time must not exceed thirty seconds', 'Everything must be discussed in writing', 'Dissent must be noted with a mark'.
32. Carl Rogers, 'The Non-Directive Method as a Technique for Social Research', American Journal of Sociology, 50 (1945), 279-89.
33. The 'she' here reflects the fact that the moderator was a woman in each case.
34. Jenny Kitzinger and Clare Farquhar, 'The Analytical Potential of Sensitive Moments in Focus Group Discussions', in R. S. Barbour and J. Kitzinger, eds, Developing Focus Group Research: Politics, Theory and Practice (London: Sage, 1999), pp. 156-72.
35. The debate over the relevant level of analysis of the focus group is an essential one. In contrast to the early days of experimental research, when focus groups were used for economy of scale and also to encourage the expression of certain opinions (see R. K. Merton with M. Fiske and P. L. Kendall, The Focused Interview: A Manual of Problems and Procedures (New York: The Free Press, 1990 [1956]))
36. some have gone so far as to argue that the relevant level can only be that of the group, as do B. F. Crabtree, M. K. Yanoshik, W. L. Miller and P. J. O'Connor, 'Selecting Individual or Group Interviews', in D. L. Morgan, ed., Successful Focus Groups: Advancing the State of the Art (Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage, 1993), pp.137-49.
37. Our view is that playing on both levels is more efficient, both to make sure that the material is dependable (an argument also put forward by M. A. Carey and M. W. Smith, 'Capturing the Group Effect in Focus Group: A Special Concern in Analysis', Qualitative Health Research, 4 (1994), 123-7), and, as this article should make clear, to make the most of the method.
38. Conover, Searing and Crewe, 'The Deliberative Potential of Discussion', pp. 54-5.
39. Erving Goffman, Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-To-Face Behaviour (New York: Pantheon, 1982).
40. Lynn M Sanders, 'Against Deliberation', Political Theory, 25 (1997), 347-76.
41. Furthermore, as we said before, the situation, very similar for the executives to some kind of job interview, promoted a tendency towards co-operation that is not a good basis for the expression of conflict. This kind of discussion was obviously totally unfamiliar to the unskilled workers. They could not confuse it with a professional test where their capacity to collaborate would be required.
42. Sanders, 'Against Deliberation', pp. 363-5.
43. Goffman, Interaction Ritual;
44. Eliasoph, Avoiding Politics.
45. Michael Billig, Ideology and Opinions: Studies in Rhetorical Psychology (London: Sage, 1991), chap. 8, pp. 168-94.
46. That is the reason why we organize the discussion in two sessions separated by a break. Refreshments are provided. In some ways, the informal discussion during the break gives participants the opportunity to become acquainted with some others.
47. It will be noted that our observation clearly disproves our previous assumption that the process of assuming conflict is a gradual one, which among other things, includes broadening one's outlook and acknowledging a cleavage prior to getting involved (Duchesne and Haegel, 'Entretiens dans la cité', p. 99).
48. Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thevenot, De la Justification: Les economies de la grandeur (Paris: Galllimard, 1991).
49. An attitude which may be accounted for by the fact that, in his opinion, he does not belong in this group. Although he has held only menial positions, his advanced degrees had marked him for executive jobs. As a matter of fact, he had originally been selected to join the group of managers, but as a greater number of people volunteered to join this group, he was ultimately assigned to the group of office-workers and he is cognizant of the fact.
50. Sanders, 'Against Deliberation', pp. 369-73.
51. Iris Marion Young, Inclusion and Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 73.
52. This echoes the role played by narratives in the interaction between the individual and the collective levels, as studied by Charles Tilly, using the notion of 'stories' (see Charles Tilly, Stories, Identities and Political Change (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002)), but from a different angle, since he focuses on political mobilization, whereas we focus on belief systems and ideologies. Moreover, it also echoes the notion of 'narratives of the self proposed by Giddens, who emphasizes the impact of reflexivity on modern individuals,
53. cf. Antony Giddens, Modernity and Self Identity, Self and Society in the Late Modern Age (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1991).
54. Jean Chiche, Brigitte Le Roux, Pascal Perrineau and Henry Rouanet, 'L'Espace politique des électeurs français à la fin des années 1990', Revue française de science politique, 50 (2000), 463-87;
55. Jean Chiche, Florence Haegel and Vincent Tiberj, 'La Fragmentation partisane', in Gérard Grunberg, Nonna Mayer and Paul M. Sniderman, eds, La Démocratie à l'épreuve (Paris: Presses de Sciences-Po, 2002), pp. 203-37.
56. In English, see also Robert Andersen and Jocelyn Evans, 'Values, Cleavages and Party Choice in France, 1988-1995', and Gérard Grunberg and Etienne Schweisguth's Reply in French Politics, 1 (2003), 83-117;
57. Gérard Grunberg and Etienne Schweisguth, 'French Political Space: Two, Three or Four Blocs?', and Andersen and Evans's reply in French Politics, 1 (2003), 331-54.
58. Herbert Kitschelt, The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995).
59. What is at work here, is not a 'new racism', or a 'symbolic racism', where a change in the line of argument goes hand in hand with a persistent ostracizing of ethnic minorities; what is at work is a clash between conflicting sets of values. See Paul M. Sniderman, Thomas Piazza, Philip E. Tetlock and Ann Kendrick, 'The New Racism', American Journal of Political Science, 35 (1991), 423-47;
60. J. B. MacConahay and J. C. Hough, 'Symbolic Racism', Journal of Social Issues, 32 (1976), 23-45.
61. Maurice Halbwachs, Les Cadres sociaux de la memoire (Paris: Albin Michel, 1994 [1925]).
62. Simmel, Conflict and the Web of Group Affiliations.
63. Bernard Lahire, L'Homme pluriel: les ressorts de l'action (Paris: Nathan, 1998).
64. Further development of this hypothesis is to be found in S. Duchesne and V. Scherrer, 'L'Identité politique comme force de combinaison et de conflictualisation des appartenances sociales: justification théorique d'une définition empirique', in Identité(s), Actes du colloque de la MSHS de Poitiers, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2003, pp. 325-36, 〈http://erg.politics.ox.ac.uk/duchesne.asp〉.
65. The notion of 'political competence' used by Bourdieu is quite close to what American speakers call 'political sophistication', but it refers not only to the objective ability to gain command of the specialized knowledge necessary for players in party-political and electoral competition (political know-how and full command of the classification schemes of the political scene), but also to the subjective feeling that one is fully entitled to have one's say in political matters (Pierre Bourdieu, 'L'Opinion publique n'existe pas', Les Temps Modernes, 378 (1973), 1292-309;
66. Pierre Bourdieu, 'Public Opinion Does Not Exist', in Sociology in Question (London: Sage, 1993).
67. The participants' interest in politics was as follows: managers (total, 7) - a lot, 5; a little, 2; office workers (total, 7) - a lot, 3; a little, 3; not at all, 1; unskilled workers (total, 6) - a lot, 1; a little, 3; not at all, 2.
68. In all the interviews, only three mentions of political professionals are to be found, and they are all prominent ones: there is one mention of Alain Madelin, a right-wing leader and staunch free marketeer; one mention of Bernard Tapie, a business man who went into politics under François Mitterrand's second presidential mandate and was implicated in corruption scandals; and one mention of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former socialist finance minister, noting that he had been elected on a very low voter turnout at the polls.
69. Billig, Ideology and Opinions;
70. Elizabeth Frazer, 'Teenage Girls Reading Jackie', Media, Culture and Society, 9 (1987), 407-25.
71. Duchesne and Haegel, 'Entretiens dans la cité'.
72. Etienne Schweisguth, 'La Dépolitisation en questions', in Grunberg, Mayer and Sniderman, eds, La Démocratie à l'épreuve, pp. 50-86;
73. Pippa Norris ed., Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999);
74. Joseph S. Nye, Philip H. Zelikow and David C. King, eds, Why People Don't Trust Government (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997).
75. Anne Muxel and Jérôme Jaffré, 'S'Abstenir: hors du jeu ou dans le jeu politique?' in P. Bréchon, A. Laurent and P. Perrineau, eds, Les Cultures politiques des Frančais (Paris: Presses de Science Po, 2000), pp. 19-52;
76. Mark N. Franklin, Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
77. Pascal Perrineau, ed., L'Engagement politique: déclin ou mutation? (Paris: Presses de Sciences Po, 1994);
78. Isabelle Sommier, Le Renouveau des mouvements contestataires à l'heure de la mondialisation (Paris: Flammarion, 2003);
79. Russel J. Dalton and Martin P. Wattenberg, eds, Parties Without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
80. Stanley Huffman et al., In Search of France (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963);
81. Charles Tilly, The Contentious French (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1986);
82. William Schonfeld, Obedience and Revolt: French Behaviour Towards Authority (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1976);
83. Theodore Zeldin, Politics and Anger (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979).
84. Giovani Sartori, 'European Political Parties: The Case of Polarized Pluralism', in Joseph Palombara and Myron Werner, eds, Political Parties and Political Development (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1966), pp. 137-76.
85. For a long time, political conflicts were fuelled by the existence of a strong Communist Party in conjunction with strong anti-communist feelings, but this antagonism has lost much of its virulence, following the decline of the French Communist Party. Currently, however, the fact that the far-right National Front has taken root is nurturing a different kind of ideological and partisan polarization.
86. Jane Mansbridge, 'Everyday Talkin the Deliberative System', in Macedo, Deliberative Politics, pp. 211-39.