Shaping participatory publics: proof of concept with depopulation as a case study

Abstract

This paper connects the sociology of public problems with the categorisation of participatory publics proposed by Hasebrink et al. Building on our work on depopulation in Spain, we propose to analyse the conversation on Twitter/X between 2019 and 2023 to create a proof of concept of its typology: polity publics, topic publics and group publics, which tend to intersect and form hybrid publics. The paper aims to operationalise the concept of publics proposed by Dewey by combining a theoretical model with data obtained from the analysis of a sample informed by existing ethnographic work using automated computational analysis techniques and data visualisation. Our source is the digital postings with which participants in the public related to depopulation set out their positions and relations with other actors in the public problem. On this basis, we conclude that it is necessary to understand the participatory public as a process rather than as a set of ideal types, assuming the existence of time cycles that depend on the actors’ ability to introduce their problem into the public sphere.