University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2014 Small Talk: The Socialities of Speech in Modern Democratic Life Chloé Bakalar University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Bakalar, Chloé, "Small Talk: The Socialities of Speech in Modern Democratic Life" (2014). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1200. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1200 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1200 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Small Talk: The Socialities of Speech in Modern Democratic Life Abstract While a substantial portion of political theory addresses the issue of public, formal communication&mdashparticularly in terms of its effects on democratic citizenship&mdashthere has been comparatively little scholarship that considers the political impact of informal, non-public speech. In this project, I present a theory of &ldquosocial speech&rdquo that fills in this gap, thereby providing a richer understanding of politics and the lived experience of liberal democratic citizenship. I develop this new theory in four stages. First, I begin by critiquing contemporary political theory's singular focus on public, political speech, as exemplified by deliberative democratic and Anglo-American legal theorists. Second, I look to the forefathers of liberal political speech theory (i.e. John Milton and John Stuart Mill) in order to rediscover a classical political theory of social speech. Third, building off of this foundation, I establish my own political theory of social speech, which identifies several mechanisms that explain how informal, everyday communication may affect liberal democratic citizenship and political outcomes in both positive and negative ways. Specifically, I argue that social speech: 1) develops the character traits that make for better or worse democratic citizens; 2) contributes to social capital and trust (based on mutual interests, hopes and objectives); 3) provides training for and information about one's unique political culture; and 4) forges the affective ties that determine the borders of imagined political communities. Finally, I test my theory of social speech through empirical observations and assessments of three common social speech situations: Internet speak, safe space speech and social hate speech. These case studies prove that social speech actually does affect democratic citizenship and political outcomes in accordance with the four mechanisms outlined in my theory of social speech. And because these effects may be positive or negative, depending on both the form and content of social communication, I conclude that there is a real need for political theory to develop understandings of social speech that could inform public policies to encourage democratically advantageous social speech and discourage democratically harmful social speech. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Political Science First Advisor Rogers M. Smith Subject Categories Political Science This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1200 SMALL TALK: THE SOCIALITIES OF SPEECH IN MODERN DEMOCRATIC LIFE Chloé Bakalar A DISSERTATION in Political Science Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 Supervisor of Dissertation ______________________ Rogers M. Smith Christopher H. Brown Distinguished Professor of Political Science Graduate Group Chairperson ______________________ Matthew Levendusky, Associate Professor of Political Science and Graduate Group Chairperson Dissertation Committee Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Brown Distinguished Professor of Political Science Nancy J. Hirschmann, Professor of Political Science Jeffrey Green, Janice and Julian Bers Associate Professor in the Social Sciences SMALL TALK: THE SOCIALITIES OF SPEECH IN LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC LIFE COPYRIGHT 2014 Chloé Bakalar This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ny-sa/2.0/ iii For my parents. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT In the many years that I have spent working on this project, I have been fortunate to count on many individuals and institutions for their support. At the University of Pennsylvania, I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to my dissertation committee for their insight, guidance and unflagging support. First and foremost, I am afraid that no amount of thanks could adequately convey the depth of my appreciation for my mentor, advisor and dissertation supervisor, Rogers M. Smith. He was the reason I came to study at Penn, and he is one of the most important reasons that I made it through in the end. He has changed the way I think about democracy, citizenship and constitutionalism—which, as he understands it, encompasses basically everything—and has profoundly influenced the direction that this dissertation finally took. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had such an attentive, compassionate and thoughtful advisor. And without his intellectual and personal support, none of this would have been possible. I would also like to thank the two other members of dissertation committee, Nancy J. Hirschmann and Jeffrey Green. Nancy led my first real course on political theory, and has stood by me ever since. She has altered my thinking about gender and liberalism in ways that I can only hope I have suitably expressed in this project. More importantly, the kindness, consideration and care that she has shown me over the years not only made this project possible, but also set the standard for the kind of person I would like to become. Nancy has applauded me in my successes and reassured me in failures, and I will be forever grateful to her. Jeff has also been a friend and an invaluable resource throughout my entire graduate career. The papers and readings for his courses helped me develop the ideas that eventually evolved into this project. And with every draft of this dissertation, he has provided me with creative, thought-provoking comments and critiques. I am honored to have all three members of my dissertation committee in my life and my corner. v I am also grateful for the many other Penn faculty members whose teachings and insights have made this project possible. Sigal Ben-Porath, John Lapinski, Matthew Levendusky, Ian Lustick and Adolph Reed all contributed to my understanding of American politics and political theory in ways that not only made me a better scholar, but also a better person. And at Columbia University, which so graciously hosted me as an exchange scholar from 2009 to 2010, I would like to thank Jean L. Cohen, Nadia Urbinati, Benjamin I. Shapiro and Dorian Warren, each of whom worked with me on projects and seminar paper that were eventually absorbed by this dissertation. A significant debt of gratitude belongs to the University of Pennsylvania’s Political Science Department and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, both of which provided vital fellowship support during the writing of this dissertation. I would also like to thank all of the presenters, committee members, fellows and other participants associated with the Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship and Constitutionalism (DCC). Many of the workshops, conferences and informal gatherings that I was able to take part in as an administrator to the Program have profoundly influenced the direction of this project. I would also like to thank the friends that I have made in my time at Penn. Not only did they help to make the University a warm and collegial place to study, but they also provided me with some of the most engaging and informative social speech experiences that a person could ever want. Murad Idris, especially, took me under his wing when I first arrived and had no idea what I was doing. He has read more drafts of my writings than I had any right to ask of a friend, and has never failed to provide insightful, useful feedback. I am deeply in his debt. Likewise, David Bateman, Stephan Stohler and Matthew Mongiello supplied many of my most enjoyable and intellectually formative social experiences at Penn. I cannot thank them enough for the critiques and suggestions they offered regarding early conceptions and drafts of this project. And to Chelsea Schaefer, my trusty officemate and fellow DCC Administrator, I would like to extend my gratitude for always brightening my visits to Philadelphia. I would also like to thank the vi members of my cohort, Eric Trager, Jon Argamon, Chris Russell, Tim Junio and Mara Ostfeld, each of whom has gone through this process with me and has, in some way, helped me to come out on the other side. Most of all, I would like to thank my family for supporting me throughout this long and arduous process. My parents, Marvin and Bianca, my brother, Jeremy, and my sisters, Andrea, Sophie, Chelsea, Charlotte and Brigitte, have never given up on me, even when it looked like I may never finish. And indeed, I might not have ever completed this project if not for their patience and encouragement. I would also like to thank my aunt, Francesca Canadé, whose own academic career has served as an inspiration to me, and who has shown me immeasurable kindness and support