Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Do citizens use storytelling or rational argumentation to lobby politicians?

Holdo, Markus LU orcid ; Öberg, PerOla and Magnusson, Simon (2019) In Policy & Politics 47(4). p.543-559
Abstract
What should count as legitimate forms of reasoning in public deliberation is a contested issue. Democratic theorists have argued that storytelling may offer a more accessible form of deliberation for marginalised citizens than ‘rational argumentation’. We investigate the empirical support for this claim by examining Swedish citizens’ use of storytelling in written communication with the political establishment. We test whether stories are used frequently, as well as by whom, and how they are used. We find that storytelling is (1) rare, (2) not more frequent among people with nonmainstream views, and (3) used together with rational argumentation. In line with some previous research, we show that stories still play other important roles:... (More)
What should count as legitimate forms of reasoning in public deliberation is a contested issue. Democratic theorists have argued that storytelling may offer a more accessible form of deliberation for marginalised citizens than ‘rational argumentation’. We investigate the empirical support for this claim by examining Swedish citizens’ use of storytelling in written communication with the political establishment. We test whether stories are used frequently, as well as by whom, and how they are used. We find that storytelling is (1) rare, (2) not more frequent among people with nonmainstream views, and (3) used together with rational argumentation. In line with some previous research, we show that stories still play other important roles: authorising the author, undermining political opponents and, most often, further supporting arguments made in ‘rational’ form. The results suggest that people rely more on rational argumentation than storytelling when expecting interlocutors to be hostile to their views. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
deliberation, narrative, norms, reasons, storytelling, communication, everyday politics, immigration
in
Policy & Politics
volume
47
issue
4
pages
543 - 559
publisher
Policy Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85074486018
ISSN
0305-5736
DOI
10.1332/030557319X15613700896551
language
Swedish
LU publication?
no
id
24e53eb4-ebb5-44af-b5d3-3f7151433c15
date added to LUP
2023-11-18 11:23:44
date last changed
2023-11-21 10:49:23
@article{24e53eb4-ebb5-44af-b5d3-3f7151433c15,
  abstract     = {{What should count as legitimate forms of reasoning in public deliberation is a contested issue. Democratic theorists have argued that storytelling may offer a more accessible form of deliberation for marginalised citizens than ‘rational argumentation’. We investigate the empirical support for this claim by examining Swedish citizens’ use of storytelling in written communication with the political establishment. We test whether stories are used frequently, as well as by whom, and how they are used. We find that storytelling is (1) rare, (2) not more frequent among people with nonmainstream views, and (3) used together with rational argumentation. In line with some previous research, we show that stories still play other important roles: authorising the author, undermining political opponents and, most often, further supporting arguments made in ‘rational’ form. The results suggest that people rely more on rational argumentation than storytelling when expecting interlocutors to be hostile to their views.}},
  author       = {{Holdo, Markus and Öberg, PerOla and Magnusson, Simon}},
  issn         = {{0305-5736}},
  keywords     = {{deliberation; narrative; norms; reasons; storytelling; communication; everyday politics; immigration}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{543--559}},
  publisher    = {{Policy Press}},
  series       = {{Policy & Politics}},
  title        = {{Do citizens use storytelling or rational argumentation to lobby politicians?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/030557319X15613700896551}},
  doi          = {{10.1332/030557319X15613700896551}},
  volume       = {{47}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}