The Role of Novel Citizenship Norms in Signing and Sharing Online Petitions

Abstract

Ideas about what makes a ‘good citizen’ continue to evolve alongside the digitalisation of political participation. We examine these interrelated trends through an in-depth analysis of the normative basis for contemporary online petitioning. This article uses original survey data in Australia and Germany to confirm the emergence of distinctive ‘contribution’ citizenship norms which emphasise the importance of sharing content through networked communications infrastructures. We then examine the relationship between these novel citizenship norms and online petitioning, differentiating online petitioning along two dimensions of mode (signing versus sharing) and frequency. First, we find ‘contribution’ norms are more associated with sharing online petitions than signing them. Second, ‘contribution’ norms are more associated with high-frequency sharing and signing, as opposed to more casual instances of participation. In combination, these findings show that contribution norms are distinctively associated with more intensive forms of online petitioning (e.g. frequent sharing), while more casual forms (such as casual signing) are supported by a more diverse range of normative orientations. We conclude that the way citizens engage with online petitions reflects, in part, their normative orientation to contributing information towards networked communication infrastructures.

Online Mothering: The Empowering Nature of a Hashtag Movement Founded on Social Sharing and Stereotype Deconstruction

“…These results confirm the massive presence of discrete emotions, especially anger and sadness, in hashtag movements having a social scope [59]; in addition, they offer a clear insight into the possible relations between a social positioning aimed at contrasting preconstructed contents and emotional activation, implying again anger as a more engaged and activating emotion [77,81]. Alternatively, not adhering to this social effort implies a less emotionally engaged attitude [82].…”

“…A denouncement concerning social, cultural, and political scenarios is accompanied by a more specifical fight against socially preconstructed contents, thus emphasizing both the overall online disclosure as supporting social practices [26] and the specific refusal to adhere to pre-constructed parental models, making use of denouncement activation level to support the counter-narrative concerning mothering [31]. In the most performative acts of e-participation, such as petitions and concrete proposals, the association with the absence of this socio-cultural proposal can be explained by thinking of proactivity either as a specific practice, surgically oriented on a legislative level, or as a less rhetoric and more regulated discursive style [82].…”