Jury sentencing has been the widely supported procedure of the American Criminal Justice system for a century, yet the stigmatization of mental illness that has been falsely influencing the proceedings of the courtrooms has gone unnoticed for too long. It is a common misconception that individuals with schizophrenia are violent deviants and as such they are more likely than defendants who do not carry the burden of a mental illness to receive harsher sentences when involved in criminal activities (Steadman, 1981). This study presented four conditions to which participants were randomly assigned, alone or in a group of three, and were asked to sentence a defendant, either with or without schizophrenia I hypothesized that group deliberations would result in more lenient sentences for defendants with schizophrenia than individual deliberations would, and that both group and individual deliberations would result in harsher sentences for defendants with schizophrenia than defendants who do not have a mental illness. The results of this study revealed that defendants with schizophrenia were sentenced in a more lenient manner than defendants with no mental illness. However, several other significant findings indicated an indirect negative attitude toward the mentally ill defendant.

Deliberative democracy has been promoted as a way improving legitimacy and political equality in policy debates. This dissertation seeks to understand how deliberation takes place within the intersection of two unique spaces: dialogue among members of regional civil society groups and communication in online fora. The motivation for this research is based on the notion that existing forms of decision-making have contributed to political inequality, a major issue in areas such as the Caribbean. Accordingly I examine the online discussions of three different civil society groups in the Caribbean. I looked at how certain variables in these fora were related to three of the main dimensions of deliberation, the use of reasoned arguments, reciprocity and reflection. With regard to reasoned arguments I examined how diversity among members, the participation of the moderator and the topic and scope of the conversation were pertinent to a discussion in a regional and multi-national setting. For reciprocity I looked at how variables related to time and the posting structure of a conversation were relevant in an online forum. Finally I looked at the strategies that were employed by participants as part of the communication process in an online forum and how these were related to processes of reflection. To address these questions I used a combination of content analysis and conversation analysis of email conversations and interviews with participants. One set of contributions from this dissertation is methodological through the development of a codebook and the novel application of conversation analysis to online deliberation. Also, the results are significant and can contribute to our understanding of deliberation in a context for which there has been little previous research. For example, I showed that national and occupational diversity can contribute to an increase in the proportion of reasoned arguments used in a conversation as does the presence of the moderator. However, these factors along with the scope and topic of a thread vary in their degree of influence on the use of reasoned arguments by the civil society group in question. I also showed that there are specific communication strategies that participants employ such as preference organization or speaker selection that are related to different forms of reflection evident in a conversation. Finally I observed that the posting structure of a conversation specifically the distribution of emails that participants send becomes less equal as reciprocity increases. This does not augur well for a deliberative ideal that envisions both reciprocity and equal participation. Furthermore, when considering deliberation as a whole, the results indicate that its different parts are not always correlated with each other. None of the lists has more than one significant correlation between the three dimensions of deliberation. In fact, reciprocity and the use of reasoned arguments were never significantly correlated in any of the lists. Together these results point to another main finding of this dissertation which is deliberation as a whole is difficult to observe in practice. Nevertheless I suggest that separately the results for each dimension can be useful from both a design perspective and for policy-makers in general. For example, encouraging the sharing of information and a more active moderator, having the opportunity to discuss regional issues could all help to promote a greater use of reasoned arguments overall. Experimenting with different ways in which group members can get to know each other might help to reduce the disparity between participation and reciprocity. Also encouraging participants to reply inline where possible, creating easier access to the message archives and having a system for collating threads and discussions online could all promote better reflection in the lists. Finally the list might benefit from having members go through an exercise of determining whether or not and in what way decision-making should be part of their discussions. With regard to policy-makers I note that several members reported benefits for policy-makers who themselves were members of the lists. This could stem from listening and learning from the discussions of other members or actually contributing to discussions. The groups also showed the potential to collate many different policy positions around a specific problem, thus assisting policy makers in understanding issues at a regional level.

The study aims to investigate student participation as a tool for democratic development in secondary school from a student perspective. Furthermore, students' perceptions of the school's work with student participation in formal and informal contexts are also investigated, with basis in the teaching structure. The results are based on interviews conducted with students who all attend the same class in their last year of high school. Subsequently, an analysis is made based mainly on three different theories: democracy, curricula and sociocultural theory. The result shows that students feel that they are able to practice student participation but the amount of influence they get differs between individuals depending on devotion and commitment. Moreover, the result indicates that there is a problem regarding both formal and informal influence where communication is poor, leading to conflict in class. The result also shows that the teacher as a professional actor is a key component in the development of students' democratic competence in terms of support and guidance in teaching. / Studien syftar till att undersöka elevinflytande som ett verktyg för demokratisk utveckling i gymnasieskolan ur ett elevperspektiv. Vidare undersöks elevers uppfattningar kring skolans arbete med elevinflytande i formella och informella kontexter med grund i undervisningens struktur. Resultatet grundar sig på intervjuer genomförda med elever som samtliga går i samma klass och studerar i årskurs tre på gymnasiet. Detta med en efterföljande analys med grund i främst demokrati-, läroplans- och sociokulturell teori. Resultatet visar att eleverna upplever att de får vara med och påverka men inflytandet skiljer mellan individer beroende på delaktighet och engagemang. Vidare pekar resultatet på att det finns en problematik gällande både formellt och informellt inflytande där kommunikationen är bristande vilket leder till konflikt i klassen. Det framgår även i resultatet att läraren som professionell aktör är en viktig komponent i utvecklingen av elevers demokratiska kompetens vad gäller stöd och vägledning i undervisningen.

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There is a recent emergence of open government initiatives for citizen participation in policy making in China. Open government initiatives seek to increase the level of participation, deliberation and transparency in government affairs, sometimes by use of Internet fora. In contemporary political science the introduction of these initiatives in authoritarian contexts has been described as a paradox of authoritarian deliberation. This thesis uses cybernetic theory, perspectives of information steering in all systems, to resolve the paradox and present a new view on authoritarianism and autocracy. A cybernetic definition of autocracy allows for an analysis of different types of autocracy in different models of governance. The theoretical tools developed are used to define and assess the potential for democratic autocracy, representative autocracy, deliberative autocracy and collaborative autocracy in online open government initiatives in China.   The argument of the thesis is that these initiatives must be understood within the environment in which they are introduced. In the case of the Chinese online environment, individuals often have limited possibilities of acting anonymously. To explore how online identity registration affects citizens, a lab-in-the-field experiment was set up. Chinese university students were invited to engage with a government sponsored online forum under conditions of both anonymity and identity registration. Previous research suggests that anonymity would lead users of online fora to be more active and produce more content. This hypothesis was partly proven false by the experiment. This study shows that users who have their identities registered, sometimes even produce more content. The study also shows that registered users tend to act against their own preferences and participate more in nationalistic debates. The concluding discussion is focused on the wider implications of these effects. If citizens are incentivized to channel their dissatisfaction as loyalty, rather than voice or exit, they might become complicit in sustaining authoritarianism. Interviews with experiment participants show that open government initiatives primarily enable deliberative and collaborative autocracy when introduced in the Chinese online environment. This has the potential of increasing the amount of dissatisfaction that citizens channel as loyalty via mechanisms of authoritarian collaboration.

In this dissertation I argue for using John Dewey's scholarship in ethics, progressive education, and public discourse as a framework for teaching rhetoric for civic engagement. By "civic engagement" I mean working to discover, address, or confront issues of public importance through discourse. In the first part I establish Dewey as a point of reference for progressive revisions of curriculum in rhetoric at the undergraduate level. Using data gathered from a sample of undergraduate institutions, I argue for an increase in courses that reflect classical interests in performance of argument and critical analysis of text as essential skills for civic engagement. In the second part I describe what such revisions may look like as we consider teaching argument as a back and forth process, deliberation as a key component of rhetorical literacy, and critical analysis of literature as an aid to civic imagination. This dissertation contributes to the continuing interest in the way rhetorical education can help students develop transferable skills, attitudes, and interests that will make them effective and ethical agents in their professional and civic lives.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Robert K. Schaeffer / In deliberative democracy, attempts to reconcile questions of gender and civil society are deadlocked over fundamental assumptions concerning the role of deliberation and the possibility that exclusion and inequality are inherent in democracy. Normative theories of deliberation - encouraging free, equal and impartial participation by citizens are fueled by the power of reason. Reason giving is associated with dominant groups – namely white, middle-class men; passionate, emotive and particularized speech is associated with politically disadvantaged groups such as women, minorities and poor. Limited empirical findings indicate rational models of deliberation do not affirm theorized inequalities. In this case, female participants neither experience unequal access or treatment within deliberation. This dissertation seeks to provide a framework for resolving the debate posed by difference democrats over whether deliberative democracy remedies the problem of inequality by examining fourteen National Issues Forums public deliberations. One set of deliberations feature an equal mix of male and female participants, another set with more male than female and a third with more female than male participants. I examine the types of talk women and men use in deliberations and whether affective claims negatively affect deliberation. Ultimately, I find that inequality based on gender exists in most of the deliberative forums I surveyed. I argue that the type of inequality plaguing deliberative democracy exists a priori – before participants enter the forums – and then manifests itself inside the forum as well. The normative structure of deliberation that is supposed to screen or bracket out inequality and the strong influences of the economic and political elites just does not happen to the degree deliberative democracy needs in order to continue the claim that it is net beneficial over the status quo.

Orientador: Caroline Kraus Luvizotto / Resumo: A pesquisa proposta pretende refletir sobre o papel do jornalismo em ambientes de conversação informais, com vistas à deliberação na esfera pública midiatizada. Para isso, foram criados dois ambientes de conversação informais, um na cidade de Coimbra, em Portugal, e outro em Ribeirão Preto, no Brasil. Cada ambiente teve como temática um caso de corrupção política e conteúdos jornalísticos foram oferecidos como suporte para a discussão entre os sujeitos. Para o trabalho, utilizamos como aporte teórico as teorias da midiatização de Braga e Stromback e teorias da deliberação e da esfera pública de Habermas, Maia, Avritzer e Marques. A proposta metodológica utilizada consiste na análise de ambientes deliberativos face-a-face proposta por Maia. A discussão foi dividida em duas etapas (antes e depois da inserção dos conteúdos), classificada e comparada. Também é utilizada metodologia de análise de enquadramento para obtenção de detalhamentos sobre os conteúdos jornalísticos oferecidos aos participantes, tendo em vista notar as marcas de influência na discussão sobre os casos. Também foi feita avaliação quantitativa do debate por meio da aplicação de questionários ao início e ao final da discussão, tendo em vista observar variações nos posicionamentos dos sujeitos. Por fim, foi realizada análise comparativa entre os resultados obtidos em solo português e em solo brasileiro, de acordo com metodologia de análise comparativa. Notou-se que houve mudanças de posicionamentos entre os part... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The proposed research aims to reflect on the role of journalism in informal conversation environments, with a view to deliberation in the mediatized public sphere. For this, two informal conversation environments were created, one in the city of Coimbra, in Portugal, and the other in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. Each environment had as its theme a case of political corruption and journalistic contents were offered as a support for the discussion between the subjects. For the work, we use as a theoretical contribution the theories of the mediatization of Braga and Stromback; theories of deliberation and the public sphere of Habermas, Maia, Avritzer and Marques. The methodological proposal used is the analysis of face-to-face deliberative environments proposed by Maia. The discussion was divided into two stages (before and after the insertion of the contents), classified and compared. It is also used a framework analysis methodology to obtain details on the journalistic contents offered to the participants, considering notice the marks of influence in the discussion about the cases. A quantitative evaluation of the debate was also carried out through the application of questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the discussion, in order to observe variations in the subjects' positions. Finally, a comparative analysis was performed between the results obtained in Portuguese soil and in Brazilian soil, according to the methodology of comparative analysis. It was noticed that the... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Youth participation habits changes constantly. Efforts to keep up with new forms of political participation is seen in international organizations, national governments and the academic community. How do young people themselves regard their participation in these new forms? One alternative form of political participation is youth organizing. This study uses a multi-case research design by interviewing Kenyan and Swedish young people who have participated in one of two youth organizing programs, organized by the non-governmental organization Fryshuset. This study aimed to uncover what youth value with youth organizing as a participation form, what goals they have with their participation and how their self-organized initiatives reflect said goals, by applying theories on empowerment, delieration, agonistic pluralism and factors affecting political participation. What youth value with youth organizing is personal development, meeting new people and getting the opportunity to make a local impact. Furthermore the study found that the primary goal of their participation was to strengthen their local community. Finally the findings show how youth preferred deliberative means to achieve their goals.

Este trabalho estuda os Conselhos Gestores de Saúde das Subprefeituras de São Paulo e os conselheiros que deles fazem parte. Estes Conselhos são desdobramentos do Movimento Popular de Saúde, que consiste em fóruns públicos para reivindicação de melhorias no sistema de atendimento à saúde, e tem seu início na década de 1970 em meio a forte repressão política, exercendo importante papel no processo de redemocratização do Brasil. Tal movimento conseguiu exercer intensa influência no capítulo da Constituição Federal que trata do Sistema Único de Saúde, e inscreveu a obrigatoriedade da existência dos Conselhos Gestores nos Municípios da Federação. Estes Conselhos têm por função institucional fazer o controle popular das políticas públicas empreendidas pelo Sistema Único de Saúde. Como se tratam de fóruns participativos, é plausível que sejam pensados e analisados através da teoria da democracia deliberativa. Partindo desta concepção de democracia, discutiu-se a possibilidade de processos deliberativos gerarem capital social e cultura cívica nas pessoas que participam destes fóruns. A parte empírica deste trabalho foi feita por estudos de casos que levaram em conta quatro Conselhos e dezesseis conselheiros. Nesta etapa, avaliou-se a relação entre os desenhos institucionais dos Conselhos Gestores de Saúde e o perfil cívico dos conselheiros que participam destes fóruns. / The present issue discusses the District Health Councils of the Submunicipalities at the city of São Paulo, Brazil and its councilors. These Councils have their basis in the Popular Health Movement, organized in fora of discussion to demand improvements in public policies of health care. That movement, which started in the 1970?s under military dictatorship, had an important role in Brazilian political redemocratization. Furthermore, it had a strong influence in 1988 Constitution\'s chapter about the obligatoriness of the District Health Councils in the municipalities of the Federation. The institutional goal of these Councils is to oversee the effectiveness of the government in implement public policies. The normative dimensions of these fora are upon the deliberative democracy theory. Having this assumption of democracy, I discuss the possibility of these arenas to generate social capital and civic culture among its participants. In a comparative study of four Councils and 16 councilors I analyzed the relation between the institutional framework of these District Councils and the level of civic culture of its councilors.