Contested meanings of public engagement

Exploring discourse and practice within a British city council

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11267724
AutoresStephen Coleman (0000-0001-6230-8463, University of Leeds, autor de correspondencia), Julie Firmstone (University of Leeds)
Año2014
Volumen36
Número6
Páginas826-844
Fecha de publicación2014-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMedia Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0163-4437 • E-ISSN: 1460-3675
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0163443714536074
OpenAlexW2137499941
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas17

This article explores local government engagement and communication with citizens in one of the UK’s largest cities from the perspective of a range of actors involved in the engagement process. We establish that a variety of interpretations and contested meanings of engagement exist among professionals involved in different spheres of public engagement. These meanings have different outcomes for the potential voice and influence given to citizens in the city’s democratic existence. We explore what the differing motivations behind the council’s communications and engagement strategies mean for the way that the democratic space of the city is constructed and communicated to citizens. We conclude that there is a need for closer integration of engagement and communications strategies. Integral to the success of such strategies is an empirically informed understanding of what public engagement is, and what skills and practices are necessary to engage with citizens successfully, especially in the reconfigured communication ecology to which new media adds a new dimension

Civic engagement · Community engagement · Democracy · Dimension (graph theory · Government (linguistics · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Public engagement · Public relations · Public sphere · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics · E-Government and Public Services · Law · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Media and Politics