Big Data and Political Participation

Abstract

This panel provides a space to inquire how Big Data and related methodological and analytical practices can leverage our understanding of grassroots and conventional forms of political participation. The rapid diffusion and increased use of social media platforms has relevant consequences for the organization and the unfolding of political dynamics at all levels – from social movements and collective participation to more conventional forms of political participation during electoral consultations. On the one hand, while more traditional forms of collective action still exist, grassroots politics often follows a logic of connective action according to which collective actors are less central than in the past for the success of mobilizations. Moreover, activists increasingly lean on web-based platforms and internet services that produce Big Data flows worldwide. On the other hand, digital social behaviors and, particularly, social media communication and interaction, are becoming fundamental components in electoral campaigns, governmental and legislative dynamics, as well as in the relationships and interactions between party members and between political leaders and their constituencies. Meanwhile, politicians and policy-makers draw on online public discourse to track evolving public opinion and political trends. To shed light on this complex and fluid context, the panel hosts papers that investigate to what extent Big Data are changing the way in which conventional and unconventional forms of political participation are organized and enacted in different national contexts, transnationally or across online/offline boundaries, and how such phenomena can be studied.