{"id":492,"date":"2025-05-26T17:01:30","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T17:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=492"},"modified":"2025-09-07T00:03:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T00:03:31","slug":"helping-communities-make-difficult-decisions-through-deliberative-discussions","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/chapter\/helping-communities-make-difficult-decisions-through-deliberative-discussions\/","title":{"raw":"Helping Communities Make Difficult Decisions Through Deliberative Discussions","rendered":"Helping Communities Make Difficult Decisions Through Deliberative Discussions"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Chapter Objectives<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<p class=\"import-pf\">Students will:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Accurately describe the goals of a deliberative discussion.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Identify historical uses of deliberative discussion.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Demonstrate five intellectual virtues as participants in a deliberative discussion.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Avoid using calls for civil conversations to quell disagreement and maintain the status quo.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_252\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"375\"]<img class=\"wp-image-252\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image207.png\" alt=\"Two people stand at podiums and talk to each other\" width=\"375\" height=\"267\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/vectors\/public-speaking-debate-conversation-8737969\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image<\/a> by Mohamed_hassan via Pixabay, <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pixabay Content License<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 0pt;\">You have likely witnessed or participated in a debate. Perhaps you watched US presidential candidates like Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate over foreign policy, or maybe you watched Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless debate the merits of a particular basketball player on Fox Sports. If so, you know that debates typically feature clashing arguments for and against a topic. They tend to emphasize disagreements between two sides and imply that one position is a winner and the other is a loser.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You probably have <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">not<\/em><\/span> watched or participated in a deliberative discussion. In contrast to debate, a deliberative discussion encourages thoughtful investigation of multiple approaches to improving a public issue. As we will explain, it takes dedicated work and planning to organize a deliberative discussion, and it typically requires guidance from facilitators.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_253\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"400\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-253\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image208.png\" alt=\"Five people sit around a table talking while one man stands and listens\" width=\"400\" height=\"262\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ilri\/7536853126\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Group discussion<\/a> by ILRI via Flickr, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/2.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-NC-ND<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">However, a deliberative discussion has many advantages over debate. It improves participants\u2019 understanding of an issue\u2019s complexity, helps them find common ground among competing interests, and enables them to make hard choices. This chapter will help you better understand the nature of a deliberative discussion and how to lead and participate in one.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We will begin this chapter by identifying the major goals of a deliberative discussion. We will then introduce you briefly to the history of deliberative discussions in the United States. Next, the chapter will identify five intellectual virtues that participants in deliberative discussions should adopt to help ensure productive conversations. The chapter will end by considering the general benefits and limitations of deliberative discussions.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Goals of Deliberative Discussions<\/h1>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">In chapter 20, we defined a deliberative discussion as a group conversation through which a community, guided by one or more moderators, examines a complex public problem and a range of available solutions to ultimately arrive at a choice or conclusion. We explained that the deliberative discussion nearly always follows some type of deliberative presentation (though both may vary in format and timing). Together, the deliberative presentation and subsequent discussion form the deliberative process, or what some people refer to simply as deliberation.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">A deliberative discussion strives to produce both public knowledge and public judgment. Let\u2019s talk briefly about each goal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\"><em>Public Knowledge<\/em><\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image68-5.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"108.466666666667px\" height=\"108.466666666667px\" \/><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Public knowledge<\/strong><\/span> refers to participants\u2019 shared and improved understanding of the wicked problem and possible solutions as they offer and hear multiple points of view. Recall standpoint theory from chapter 7, which posits that our social identities influence our knowledge of the world and our perceptions of what is \u201ctrue\u201d or \u201cnormal.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image209.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"142.2px\" height=\"142.2px\" \/>By hearing and genuinely considering viewpoints, experiences, and values from participants with differing standpoints, deliberative discussion shifts us from our individual, partial knowledge to a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">shared<\/em><\/span>, public knowledge that is more robust. Public knowledge develops as we, together, better recognize the complexity of problems, the merits of alternative views, and the demerits of our originally preferred solution.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 22.1 Goals of Deliberative Discussions<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>produce <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">public knowledge<\/strong><\/span>: participants\u2019 shared and improved understanding of the wicked problem and possible solutions as they offer and hear multiple points of view<\/li>\r\n \t<li>produce <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">public judgment<\/strong><\/span>: the community\u2019s thoughtful choice about its desired approach or next steps to address the problem based on the public knowledge developed during the discussion<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\"><em>Public Judgment<\/em><\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image210.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"159.066666666667px\" height=\"159.066666666667px\" \/>A deliberative discussion\u2019s ultimate goal is to produce public judgment. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Public judgment<\/strong><\/span> is the community\u2019s thoughtful choice about its desired approach or next steps to address the problem. Public judgment is based on the public knowledge developed during the discussion.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Two elements are worth noting here: First is that the group\u2019s choice comes <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">after<\/em><\/span> they have produced public knowledge. That timing helps prevent what modern psychology scholars call <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">groupthink<\/strong><\/span>, which is a phenomenon that occurs when members\u2019 desire for harmony outweighs their willingness to critically examine alternative perspectives. Such critical examination (including scrutiny and disagreement) is required in a deliberative discussion.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The second aspect worth noting is that a deliberative discussion seeks to move participants to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">choice making<\/em><\/span>. The ultimate goal of a deliberative discussion is for participants to choose the next best step(s) to solve the problem and ease the controversy, having considered the trade-offs of at least three broad approaches.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The next steps chosen can vary widely, such as adopting a particular approach, exploring new options, or finding answers to questions raised during the discussion. Naturally, participants in a deliberative discussion will not always come to an agreement about the next step(s) to take. But because they have thoughtfully considered the options and competing interests together, each will be prepared to advance a thoughtful proposal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">The \u201cPublic\u201d in Public Knowledge and Public Judgment<\/h1>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Keep in mind that the \u201cpublic\u201d in public knowledge and public judgment signals that a public is required to produce each <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">together<\/em><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">as a group<\/em><\/span>. Recall from chapter 2 that a public refers to a collection of people who are joined together in a cause of common concern. Thus, public knowledge and public judgment can only be achieved by such a collection of people. These goals cannot be attained by individuals working alone. Box 22.2 offers an example of a public that engaged in deliberative discussion. In the next section, we look back historically to recognize the long legacy of deliberative discussions to aid public decision-making.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 22.2 Public Knowledge and Public Judgment in a Deliberative Discussion<\/strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_257\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"375\"]<img class=\"wp-image-257\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image211.png\" alt=\"A map of Indiana with a line indicating the Wabash River Watershed\" width=\"375\" height=\"374\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Wabash-River-Watershed.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wabash River Watershed<\/a> by Davodd at the English Wikipedia, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nA deliberative discussion occurred in Indiana in 2022 to address the management of a local watershed. A <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId347\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/4RJG-JSZM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">watershed<\/span><\/a><\/span> is an area of land that directs rainfall and snowmelt toward local creeks, streams, and rivers. In this case, the watershed spread across four Indiana counties. The discussion was sparked by widespread concern over the poor quality of water entering a nearby creek due to a variety of pollutants, including <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">E. coli<\/em><\/span> from manure spread on adjacent farmland, contamination from improperly installed septic tanks, and litter from people who recreate on the creek. However, stakeholders disagreed about how to best improve the water quality or who to blame.\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Consequently, trained facilitators at a nearby college organized a deliberative discussion for a variety of residents and local organizations across the counties. During their discussion, participants produced the following:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Public knowledge<\/strong><\/span> about the issue\u2019s complexity, such as recognizing that both farmers who own nearby land and recreators who canoe on the creek are impacted by the water quality <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">and<\/em><\/span> contribute to its pollution.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Public judgment<\/strong><\/span> when they agreed on an educational approach to preserving the watershed\u2019s health. They determined that educational efforts should also attend to related concerns like soil runoff and animal welfare versus only targeting water quality.[footnote]Wabash Democracy and Public Discourse, \"Upper Creek Watershed, Report on Initial 319 Grant Public Meeting,\" March 16, 2022.[\/footnote]<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\"><em>Deliberative Discussions in Historical Context<\/em><\/h1>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_258\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"375\"]<img class=\"wp-image-258\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image212.png\" alt=\"A picture of the speaker's platform at Pynx Bema, Athens, Greece.\" width=\"375\" height=\"281\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Pnyx_Bema_2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pnyx Bema<\/a> by Tomisti via Wikimedia Commons, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">People in the Western political tradition have historically used deliberative discussions to enact and improve democracy.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">One of the earliest venues for democratic governance\u2014during the sixth and fifth centuries BCE\u2014was the Athenian Assembly. As we discussed in chapter 1, Greek citizens convened there to raise, discuss, and make decisions about public issues.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Perhaps because of the strengths of such deliberative exchanges, we find movements in the United States that strongly resemble the Athenian precursor, albeit on a smaller scale. Box 22.3 provides several US examples from over the past five centuries! For hundreds of years, Americans have recognized the value of deliberative discussions in North American democratic participation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 22.3 Deliberative Discussions in the United States from the Seventeenth to Twenty-First Centuries<\/strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_259\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"289\"]<img class=\"wp-image-259 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image213.png\" alt=\"Picture of a large white building with a steeple\" width=\"289\" height=\"434\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:FrancestownNH_Meetinghouse.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Francestown, NH Meetinghouse<\/a> by Magicpiano via Wikimedia Commons, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">seventeenth century<\/strong><\/span>, New England colonists developed town hall meetings. These meetings were informally structured, met on an ad hoc basis, and included citizens, town officials, and magistrates. As colonists grew dissatisfied with British rule, town hall meetings became a place to discuss their situation and to deliberate possible actions.\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">During the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">nineteenth century<\/strong><\/span>, new efforts arose in the United States to promote public discussions and educate our young country\u2019s citizens. The <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId351\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/RFX4-RAVD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">L<\/span><span class=\"import-url\">yceum movement<\/span> <\/a><\/span>emerged in the 1820s and lasted until just after the Civil War in the 1860s. Teacher and scientist Josiah Holbrook started the movement and named it after Aristotle\u2019s school in ancient Greece. It provided adult education and a place to discuss public issues.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_260\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"251\"]<img class=\"wp-image-260\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image214.jpeg\" alt=\"Advertisment for Chautauqua lectures\" width=\"251\" height=\"311\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:06-claycenterchautauqua-ad.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Clay Center Chautauqua Ad<\/a> Clay Center Times via Wikipedia, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/public-domain\/pdm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Public Domain<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId353\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/4J36-V6UG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">The Chautauqua movement<\/span><\/a><\/span> began in 1874 on the heels of the Lyceum movement. It similarly functioned as a kind of adult education that included discussion of civic affairs. It started in New York and spread across the country by 1880. Though most groups disbanded by the 1930s, you can still find Chautauqua meetings today.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_261\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"256\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-261\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image215.png\" alt=\"Cooper Union Building\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:The_Cooper_Union%27s_Foundation_Building_-_North_Side_(48072759802).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Cooper Union's Foundation Building<\/a> by Ajay Suresh via Wikimedia Commons, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">The <\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\"><span class=\"import-url\">O<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\"><span class=\"import-url\">pen <\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\"><span class=\"import-url\">F<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">orum movement<\/span><\/a><\/span> developed around the same time as the Chautauqua movement. Starting from such established open forums as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId355\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/VQF6-HAUZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">Cooper Union<\/span><\/a><\/span> in New York City (1894)[footnote]\u201cHistory,\u201d The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, https:\/\/cooper.edu\/about\/history, archived February 10, 2025, at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/VQF6-HAUZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/VQF6-HAUZ<\/a>.[\/footnote] and the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId356\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/PY5R-LEF7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">Ford Hall Forum<\/span><\/a><\/span> in Boston (1908),[footnote]Irina Rogova, \"Ford Hall Forum: Promoting Free Speech Since 1908,\" <em>Moakley Archive &amp; Institute Digital Collections<\/em>,\u00a02016, updated 2018, https:\/\/moakleyarchive.omeka.net\/exhibits\/show\/fordhallforum\/openforum, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K<\/a>.[\/footnote] the Open Forum movement gained popularity across the country during the 1930s. It utilized community discussions to educate and engage adult citizens in social and political topics.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">During this same period of the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">1920s and 1930s<\/strong><\/span>, American academics also grew interested in the role of public discussions. These years correspond with the aftermath of World War I; the Progressive Era when many social reformers attempted to strengthen national democratic practices; and the Great Depression. Some college professors of speech responded to societal concerns by teaching students how to engage in discussions.[footnote]William Keith, <em>Democracy as Discussion: The American Forum Movement and Civic Education<\/em> (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2004), 144, 152, 157.[\/footnote] This added focus increased and extended through the mid-1950s but largely faded out of university curricula by the 1960s.[footnote]Keith, <em>Democracy as Discussion<\/em>, 158, 193.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Enthusiasm for deliberative discussions arose again near the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century<\/strong><\/span>. During the 1980s, increased social fragmentation, political disaffection, and even illiteracy in civic affairs prompted nonprofit organizations like the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId357\" href=\"https:\/\/kettering.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">Charles F. Kettering Foundation<\/span><\/a><\/span> and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId358\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/HCS9-QHXB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">National Issues Forum<\/span><\/a><\/span> to focus on teaching, researching, and advancing deliberative discussions. In 2002, the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId359\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncdd.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">National Coalition for Dialogue &amp; Deliberation<\/span><\/a><\/span> became a meeting place for practitioners. As the twenty-first century progressed, several universities and colleges established centers and initiatives to promote deliberative conversations on and off their campuses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Despite ongoing interest, however, few US residents today have been trained in or experienced a deliberative discussion. Instead, unproductive discourse, which we characterized in chapter 2, seems to dominate mainstream communication. Consequently, we focus this chapter on instructions for effectively <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">participating<\/em><\/span> in deliberative discussions. The next chapter offers guidance for <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">leading<\/em><\/span> deliberative discussions.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Participating in a Deliberative Discussion<\/h1>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">All participants in a discussion play a role in the outcome. Those who dominate the discussion, block the ideas of others, seek attention for themselves, or engage in excessive sarcasm obviously harm the discussion. Those who participate in the discussion with an open mind, frankness, and sensitivity to others help the discussion thrive. In the following table, we highlight five intellectual virtues\u2014and ways you can adopt them\u2014to practice good participation in a deliberative discussion.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Active listening<\/em><\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">Seek to understand others\u2019 comments. When ideas are unclear, ask questions.<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">Check the accuracy of your understanding by briefly paraphrasing what a speaker has said.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cCould you help me understand what you mean by that?\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cSo it sounds like you\u2019re saying\u2026\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Intellectual humility and doubt<\/em><\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">Make clear the limitations of your knowledge and perspective.<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">Seek new knowledge, understanding, and a broader perspective.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cFrom what I understand\u2026but I could be wrong.\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cThat\u2019s new to me. Can you say more about that?\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Inclusiveness<\/em><\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">Ensure all perspectives are heard fully and fairly.<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">Invite all participants into the discussion.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cI think we\u2019re missing farmers\u2019 voices. I wonder what they\u2019d think about this issue.\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cI\u2019m interested in hearing from Marcus.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Imagination<\/em><\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">Entertain and develop ideas that might not be realistic when first presented but can be made more practical with a little creative thinking.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cWhat if\u2026\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cMaybe we could try\u2026\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Reflectiveness<\/em><\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">Think in new and constructive ways.<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">Be willing to challenge even long-held beliefs or ideas.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cI never realized that before.\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cWhat might be an argument against this idea?\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Notice that employing the virtues requires <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">actively<\/em><\/span> taking responsibility for the discussion. That might sound surprising. After all, when you are not leading the discussion, it can be tempting to zone out, go along with what others say, or slyly scroll on your phone. Even as a participant, however, you can and should help shape the conversation. That means paying attention, listening ethically (as discussed in chapter 6), and speaking up in ways that embody the five intellectual virtues. When you accept such responsibility, you ensure the group will reap the benefits of deliberative discussions, to which we turn next.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Benefits and Limitations of Deliberative Discussions<\/h1>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image216.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"88\" height=\"88\" \/>The importance of deliberative discussions can hardly be exaggerated. Public deliberation provides us the invaluable opportunity to engage in discussion with those whose opinions differ. When discussing a problem of mutual concern, we realize those who disagree with us are reasonable, engaged individuals. We may even learn that how we characterize such people is untenable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 22.4 Humanizing the Opposition<\/strong>\r\n\r\nImagine being a participant in a deliberative discussion about water quality, similar to the Indiana discussion explored in an earlier example. Perhaps you walk in, ready to argue against small-town inhabitants and against environmentalists.\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You may discover the following:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The \u201clocal yokel,\u201d for example, turns out to be a third-generation farmer\u2014say, Marcus\u2014who is trying to shift from using chemical pesticides to living organisms to control pests but cannot find sufficient funding.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The \u201ctree hugger\u201d may be a woman\u2014say, Amanda\u2014who wants to improve water quality so she and her kids can continue to enjoy canoeing together.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">When the opposition is given a name and a voice to explain the reasons for their position, we can better connect as people and find more productive ways forward.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Also, while deliberative discussions are hard work, if done well, they result in better decisions. In contrast to when experts or officials make decisions on their own, deliberative discussion allows the public to directly influence community agenda-setting and choices. That is, ordinary residents can influence what topics community leaders attend to and how. Deliberative discussions also help community members avoid the pitfalls of unreflective bias and groupthink. A wiser set of decisions results from sharing opinions and experiences as well as from systematically considering the benefits and drawbacks of every approach.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image217.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"138.666666666667px\" height=\"138.666666666667px\" \/>Deliberative discussions, however, incur limitations as well. From chapter 4, you may recall philosopher Nancy Fraser\u2019s critique of the public sphere\u2014a theory developed by sociologist and philosopher J\u00fcrgen Habermas.[footnote]J\u00fcrgen Habermas, <em>The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society<\/em> (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996); Nancy Fraser, \u201cRethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy,\u201d <em>Social Text<\/em> 25 (1990): 56\u201380.[\/footnote] While the public sphere is meant to be a gathering of community members to discuss public issues as equal participants, it can actually privilege members with higher social status and increased knowledge of participation norms\u2014such as how the group expects you to talk and behave during a deliberative discussion.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">As we further discussed in chapter 4, talk or behavior that falls outside expectations may be shut down or excluded because it\u2019s deemed inappropriate. The inappropriate talk or behavior is often accused of being <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">uncivil<\/em><\/span>. We defined <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">uncivil speech<\/em><\/span> in chapter 4 as rhetoric that violates decorum because it is disrespectful, angry, and\/or impolite. Censorship of uncivil speech can stop discussions from becoming unproductive or divisive, but it can also be abused by shutting out people with lower social status.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Typically, people in power get to decide when expectations have been violated. What that means is what counts as appropriate behavior for deliberation is not universally or objectively agreed upon, so those in power typically get to decide where to draw the line.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In chapter 4, we explained that lines, or standards of decorum, are drawn through <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">policing discourse<\/em><\/span>, which is the use of rhetoric to determine preferred or appropriate ways of talking together when deliberating public issues. Policing discourse aims to censor the speech of people who challenge the social order.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 22.5 Calls for Decorum That Silence Dissent<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s not hard to find historical examples of people in power accusing others, typically with lower social status, of violating \u201ccivil speech\u201d or \u201cdecorum\u201d to silence their disagreement.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2717\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"334\"]<img class=\"wp-image-2717\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/54106214488_5a30b4251d_c.jpg\" alt=\"Collin Kaepernick\" width=\"334\" height=\"500\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/52522100@N07\/54106214488\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colin Kaepernick<\/a> by TechCrunch via Flickr, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">For example, in 2016 former professional football player Colin Kaepernick protested police violence against Black people by kneeling during the national anthem at games. Objectors accused Kaepernick of inappropriate behavior due to his posture (kneeling), timing (during the national anthem), identity (as a professional football player), and context (at a sports event). The most powerful US political leader at the time, President Donald Trump, publicly voiced such objections. Referring to Kaepernick and other NFL players who joined his protest, <a class=\"rId364\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/5ET2-ZDLE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">Trump proclaimed that \u201cwhen somebody disrespects our flag,\u201d the NFL owner should fire him.<\/span><\/a>[footnote]Dan Cancian, \u201cEverything Trump Has Said About NFL Kneeling So Far,\u201d <em>Newsweek<\/em>, June 8, 2020, https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/everything-donald-trump-said-nfl-anthem-protests-1509333, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/5ET2-ZDLE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/5ET2-ZDLE<\/a>.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_265\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"256\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-265\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image219.png\" alt=\"Zooey Zephyr\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Zooey_Zephyr_20230625-4920_(cropped).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zooey Zephyr<\/a> by Pax Ahimsa Gethen via Wikimedia Commons, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In 2023, Montana Representative Zooey Zephyr, the first transgender lawmaker in Montana, argued against legislation that would restrict transgender health care for youth, warning that the bill\u2019s supporters would have \u201cblood on their hands.\u201d Montana House Majority Leader Sue Vinton called the comments out of order and then led a vote that banned Zephyr from attending or speaking during future floor sessions.[footnote]Shaylee Ragar and Acacia Squires, \u201cMontana House Vote to Formally Punish Transgender Lawmaker, Rep. Zooey Zephyr,\u201d <em>National Public Radio<\/em>, April 26, 2023, https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/04\/26\/1172158461\/montana-gop-transgender-zooey-zephyr-punishment-banned-speaking-lgbtq, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/M6QR-NDS2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/M6QR-NDS2<\/a>.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In both examples, calls for respectful behavior and civil discourse censored dissenting perspectives instead of engaging with, or even debating, their merits.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">When used to quell disagreement, policing discourse strategically shifts attention <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">away from<\/em><\/span> the dissent raised (in the cases in box 22.5, against racism in the legal sphere and transphobia in the legislative context) and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">toward<\/em><\/span> the individuals or groups protesting (Kaepernick and Zephyr). Consequently, such rhetoric implies that the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">individuals<\/em><\/span> need to change (or be \u201ccivilized\u201d) and that the status quo, including existing systems of inequity, should be maintained.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<a class=\"rId362\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/98HL-C8P6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">NPR\u2019s Karen Grigsby Bates goes so far as to argue<\/em><\/a> that \u201cpushing back against the status quo will be seen as inherently uncivil by the people who want to maintain it. And there are always higher standards expected of those people pushing back.\u201d[footnote]Karen Grigsby Bates, \u201cWhen Civility Is Used as a Cudgel Against People of Color,\u201d <em>National Public Radio<\/em>, March 14, 2019, https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/codeswitch\/2019\/03\/14\/700897826\/when-civility-is-used-as-a-cudgel-against-people-of-color, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/98HL-C8P6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/98HL-C8P6<\/a>.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Deliberative discussion leaders should, therefore, proceed with sensitivity in light of these limitations and historical abuses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>One suggestion, which we explore more in the next chapter, is to invite participants to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">\u201ccall out\u201d problematic language<\/em><\/span> while keeping participants in the conversation. In other words, deepen and widen the conversation instead of shutting it down or censoring voices.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Also, encourage participants to expect a productive discussion to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">make them uncomfortable<\/em><\/span>. It is likely their assumptions and values will be challenged. They will likely hear perspectives they had not considered and realize their conclusions need to change. They may hear language that makes them upset and need to articulate why. They may also need to listen to others express anger about things they say or solutions they prefer.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">If leaders take appropriate steps and participants allow themselves to be uncomfortable, deliberative discussions can model and teach the civic skills people need to productively contribute to their communities. Participating in a discussion teaches participants to listen as much as they talk; to ask questions as well as advocate ideas; to recognize the drawbacks, and not just the benefits, of their ideas; and to consider the consequences of any choice upon a wider range of community members than only themselves.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Summary<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">The ability to discuss civic concerns productively with your fellow residents is an integral aspect of public speaking. This chapter offered you an explanation of the nature, benefits, and US lineage of deliberative discussions. It also provided guidance on how to effectively participate in such discussions, and it warned against calls for civil speech that silence dissenting voices.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-blf\">A deliberative discussion is a group conversation through which a community, guided by one or more moderators, thoughtfully and thoroughly examines a complex public problem as well as the range of available solutions to ultimately arrive at a decision or conclusion.<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-bl0\">The ongoing importance of civic-centered discussions is demonstrated through several historical US movements and organizations dedicated to public discussion and adult education.<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-bl0\">Productively participating in a deliberative discussion requires exhibiting several intellectual virtues, including active listening, intellectual humility and doubt, inclusiveness, imagination, reflectiveness, and responsibility for the quality of the discussion.<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-bl0\">Leading or participating in a deliberative discussion can result in better decision-making, potentially help you connect with people whose opinions differ from your own, and teach civic skills that people need to productively contribute to their communities.<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"import-bl0\">The norms of participating in deliberative discussions can be used to exclude community members, particularly with marginalized positionalities, by accusing them of violating \u201ccivil speech\u201d or breaching \u201cdecorum.\u201d Such accusations can function to maintain the status quo and systems of inequity.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Key Terms<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\ngroupthink\r\npublic judgment\r\npublic knowledge\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Review Questions<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>What are the two main goals of a deliberative discussion?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What virtues does an effective participant in a deliberative discussion exhibit?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What are two benefits and one limitation of a deliberative discussion?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Discussion Questions<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>How do public knowledge and public judgment differ from individual knowledge and judgment? How do they overlap?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Which of the five intellectual virtues do you find easiest to adopt during discussions? Most difficult? Why?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Find an example (locally or nationally) of a person who was silenced because they did not speak in appropriate ways, as defined by a powerful leader. What was the person trying to say or do? What about their way of speaking did the leader critique? Should the person have been allowed to speak that way? Why or why not?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Chapter Objectives<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p class=\"import-pf\">Students will:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Accurately describe the goals of a deliberative discussion.<\/li>\n<li>Identify historical uses of deliberative discussion.<\/li>\n<li>Demonstrate five intellectual virtues as participants in a deliberative discussion.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid using calls for civil conversations to quell disagreement and maintain the status quo.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_252\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-252\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"wp-image-252\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image207.png\" alt=\"Two people stand at podiums and talk to each other\" width=\"375\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image207.png 477w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image207-300x214.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image207-65x46.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image207-225x160.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image207-350x249.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-252\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/vectors\/public-speaking-debate-conversation-8737969\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image<\/a> by Mohamed_hassan via Pixabay, <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pixabay Content License<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 0pt;\">You have likely witnessed or participated in a debate. Perhaps you watched US presidential candidates like Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate over foreign policy, or maybe you watched Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless debate the merits of a particular basketball player on Fox Sports. If so, you know that debates typically feature clashing arguments for and against a topic. They tend to emphasize disagreements between two sides and imply that one position is a winner and the other is a loser.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You probably have <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">not<\/em><\/span> watched or participated in a deliberative discussion. In contrast to debate, a deliberative discussion encourages thoughtful investigation of multiple approaches to improving a public issue. As we will explain, it takes dedicated work and planning to organize a deliberative discussion, and it typically requires guidance from facilitators.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_253\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-253\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-253\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image208.png\" alt=\"Five people sit around a table talking while one man stands and listens\" width=\"400\" height=\"262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image208.png 400w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image208-300x197.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image208-65x43.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image208-225x147.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image208-350x229.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-253\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ilri\/7536853126\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Group discussion<\/a> by ILRI via Flickr, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/2.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-NC-ND<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">However, a deliberative discussion has many advantages over debate. It improves participants\u2019 understanding of an issue\u2019s complexity, helps them find common ground among competing interests, and enables them to make hard choices. This chapter will help you better understand the nature of a deliberative discussion and how to lead and participate in one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We will begin this chapter by identifying the major goals of a deliberative discussion. We will then introduce you briefly to the history of deliberative discussions in the United States. Next, the chapter will identify five intellectual virtues that participants in deliberative discussions should adopt to help ensure productive conversations. The chapter will end by considering the general benefits and limitations of deliberative discussions.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Goals of Deliberative Discussions<\/h1>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">In chapter 20, we defined a deliberative discussion as a group conversation through which a community, guided by one or more moderators, examines a complex public problem and a range of available solutions to ultimately arrive at a choice or conclusion. We explained that the deliberative discussion nearly always follows some type of deliberative presentation (though both may vary in format and timing). Together, the deliberative presentation and subsequent discussion form the deliberative process, or what some people refer to simply as deliberation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">A deliberative discussion strives to produce both public knowledge and public judgment. Let\u2019s talk briefly about each goal.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\"><em>Public Knowledge<\/em><\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image68-5.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"108.466666666667px\" height=\"108.466666666667px\" \/><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Public knowledge<\/strong><\/span> refers to participants\u2019 shared and improved understanding of the wicked problem and possible solutions as they offer and hear multiple points of view. Recall standpoint theory from chapter 7, which posits that our social identities influence our knowledge of the world and our perceptions of what is \u201ctrue\u201d or \u201cnormal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image209.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"142.2px\" height=\"142.2px\" \/>By hearing and genuinely considering viewpoints, experiences, and values from participants with differing standpoints, deliberative discussion shifts us from our individual, partial knowledge to a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">shared<\/em><\/span>, public knowledge that is more robust. Public knowledge develops as we, together, better recognize the complexity of problems, the merits of alternative views, and the demerits of our originally preferred solution.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 22.1 Goals of Deliberative Discussions<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>produce <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">public knowledge<\/strong><\/span>: participants\u2019 shared and improved understanding of the wicked problem and possible solutions as they offer and hear multiple points of view<\/li>\n<li>produce <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">public judgment<\/strong><\/span>: the community\u2019s thoughtful choice about its desired approach or next steps to address the problem based on the public knowledge developed during the discussion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\"><em>Public Judgment<\/em><\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image210.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"159.066666666667px\" height=\"159.066666666667px\" \/>A deliberative discussion\u2019s ultimate goal is to produce public judgment. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Public judgment<\/strong><\/span> is the community\u2019s thoughtful choice about its desired approach or next steps to address the problem. Public judgment is based on the public knowledge developed during the discussion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Two elements are worth noting here: First is that the group\u2019s choice comes <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">after<\/em><\/span> they have produced public knowledge. That timing helps prevent what modern psychology scholars call <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">groupthink<\/strong><\/span>, which is a phenomenon that occurs when members\u2019 desire for harmony outweighs their willingness to critically examine alternative perspectives. Such critical examination (including scrutiny and disagreement) is required in a deliberative discussion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The second aspect worth noting is that a deliberative discussion seeks to move participants to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">choice making<\/em><\/span>. The ultimate goal of a deliberative discussion is for participants to choose the next best step(s) to solve the problem and ease the controversy, having considered the trade-offs of at least three broad approaches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The next steps chosen can vary widely, such as adopting a particular approach, exploring new options, or finding answers to questions raised during the discussion. Naturally, participants in a deliberative discussion will not always come to an agreement about the next step(s) to take. But because they have thoughtfully considered the options and competing interests together, each will be prepared to advance a thoughtful proposal.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">The \u201cPublic\u201d in Public Knowledge and Public Judgment<\/h1>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Keep in mind that the \u201cpublic\u201d in public knowledge and public judgment signals that a public is required to produce each <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">together<\/em><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">as a group<\/em><\/span>. Recall from chapter 2 that a public refers to a collection of people who are joined together in a cause of common concern. Thus, public knowledge and public judgment can only be achieved by such a collection of people. These goals cannot be attained by individuals working alone. Box 22.2 offers an example of a public that engaged in deliberative discussion. In the next section, we look back historically to recognize the long legacy of deliberative discussions to aid public decision-making.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 22.2 Public Knowledge and Public Judgment in a Deliberative Discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_257\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-257\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img class=\"wp-image-257\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image211.png\" alt=\"A map of Indiana with a line indicating the Wabash River Watershed\" width=\"375\" height=\"374\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image211.png 506w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image211-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image211-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image211-65x65.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image211-225x224.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image211-350x349.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-257\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Wabash-River-Watershed.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wabash River Watershed<\/a> by Davodd at the English Wikipedia, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A deliberative discussion occurred in Indiana in 2022 to address the management of a local watershed. A <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId347\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/4RJG-JSZM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">watershed<\/span><\/a><\/span> is an area of land that directs rainfall and snowmelt toward local creeks, streams, and rivers. In this case, the watershed spread across four Indiana counties. The discussion was sparked by widespread concern over the poor quality of water entering a nearby creek due to a variety of pollutants, including <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">E. coli<\/em><\/span> from manure spread on adjacent farmland, contamination from improperly installed septic tanks, and litter from people who recreate on the creek. However, stakeholders disagreed about how to best improve the water quality or who to blame.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Consequently, trained facilitators at a nearby college organized a deliberative discussion for a variety of residents and local organizations across the counties. During their discussion, participants produced the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Public knowledge<\/strong><\/span> about the issue\u2019s complexity, such as recognizing that both farmers who own nearby land and recreators who canoe on the creek are impacted by the water quality <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">and<\/em><\/span> contribute to its pollution.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Public judgment<\/strong><\/span> when they agreed on an educational approach to preserving the watershed\u2019s health. They determined that educational efforts should also attend to related concerns like soil runoff and animal welfare versus only targeting water quality.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Wabash Democracy and Public Discourse, &quot;Upper Creek Watershed, Report on Initial 319 Grant Public Meeting,&quot; March 16, 2022.\" id=\"return-footnote-492-1\" href=\"#footnote-492-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\"><em>Deliberative Discussions in Historical Context<\/em><\/h1>\n<figure id=\"attachment_258\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-258\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"wp-image-258\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image212.png\" alt=\"A picture of the speaker's platform at Pynx Bema, Athens, Greece.\" width=\"375\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image212.png 512w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image212-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image212-65x49.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image212-225x169.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image212-350x263.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-258\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Pnyx_Bema_2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pnyx Bema<\/a> by Tomisti via Wikimedia Commons, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">People in the Western political tradition have historically used deliberative discussions to enact and improve democracy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">One of the earliest venues for democratic governance\u2014during the sixth and fifth centuries BCE\u2014was the Athenian Assembly. As we discussed in chapter 1, Greek citizens convened there to raise, discuss, and make decisions about public issues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Perhaps because of the strengths of such deliberative exchanges, we find movements in the United States that strongly resemble the Athenian precursor, albeit on a smaller scale. Box 22.3 provides several US examples from over the past five centuries! For hundreds of years, Americans have recognized the value of deliberative discussions in North American democratic participation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 22.3 Deliberative Discussions in the United States from the Seventeenth to Twenty-First Centuries<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_259\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-259\" style=\"width: 289px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img class=\"wp-image-259 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image213.png\" alt=\"Picture of a large white building with a steeple\" width=\"289\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image213.png 289w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image213-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image213-65x98.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image213-225x338.png 225w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-259\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:FrancestownNH_Meetinghouse.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Francestown, NH Meetinghouse<\/a> by Magicpiano via Wikimedia Commons, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">seventeenth century<\/strong><\/span>, New England colonists developed town hall meetings. These meetings were informally structured, met on an ad hoc basis, and included citizens, town officials, and magistrates. As colonists grew dissatisfied with British rule, town hall meetings became a place to discuss their situation and to deliberate possible actions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">During the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">nineteenth century<\/strong><\/span>, new efforts arose in the United States to promote public discussions and educate our young country\u2019s citizens. The <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId351\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/RFX4-RAVD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">L<\/span><span class=\"import-url\">yceum movement<\/span> <\/a><\/span>emerged in the 1820s and lasted until just after the Civil War in the 1860s. Teacher and scientist Josiah Holbrook started the movement and named it after Aristotle\u2019s school in ancient Greece. It provided adult education and a place to discuss public issues.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_260\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-260\" style=\"width: 251px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"wp-image-260\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image214.jpeg\" alt=\"Advertisment for Chautauqua lectures\" width=\"251\" height=\"311\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image214.jpeg 483w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image214-242x300.jpeg 242w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image214-65x81.jpeg 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image214-225x279.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image214-350x434.jpeg 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-260\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:06-claycenterchautauqua-ad.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Clay Center Chautauqua Ad<\/a> Clay Center Times via Wikipedia, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/public-domain\/pdm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Public Domain<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId353\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/4J36-V6UG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">The Chautauqua movement<\/span><\/a><\/span> began in 1874 on the heels of the Lyceum movement. It similarly functioned as a kind of adult education that included discussion of civic affairs. It started in New York and spread across the country by 1880. Though most groups disbanded by the 1930s, you can still find Chautauqua meetings today.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_261\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-261\" style=\"width: 256px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-261\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image215.png\" alt=\"Cooper Union Building\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image215.png 256w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image215-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image215-65x65.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image215-225x225.png 225w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-261\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:The_Cooper_Union%27s_Foundation_Building_-_North_Side_(48072759802).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Cooper Union&#8217;s Foundation Building<\/a> by Ajay Suresh via Wikimedia Commons, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">The <\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\"><span class=\"import-url\">O<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\"><span class=\"import-url\">pen <\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\"><span class=\"import-url\">F<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">orum movement<\/span><\/a><\/span> developed around the same time as the Chautauqua movement. Starting from such established open forums as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId355\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/VQF6-HAUZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">Cooper Union<\/span><\/a><\/span> in New York City (1894)<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"\u201cHistory,\u201d The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, https:\/\/cooper.edu\/about\/history, archived February 10, 2025, at https:\/\/perma.cc\/VQF6-HAUZ.\" id=\"return-footnote-492-2\" href=\"#footnote-492-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a> and the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId356\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/PY5R-LEF7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">Ford Hall Forum<\/span><\/a><\/span> in Boston (1908),<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Irina Rogova, &quot;Ford Hall Forum: Promoting Free Speech Since 1908,&quot; Moakley Archive &amp; Institute Digital Collections,\u00a02016, updated 2018, https:\/\/moakleyarchive.omeka.net\/exhibits\/show\/fordhallforum\/openforum, archived at https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K.\" id=\"return-footnote-492-3\" href=\"#footnote-492-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a> the Open Forum movement gained popularity across the country during the 1930s. It utilized community discussions to educate and engage adult citizens in social and political topics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">During this same period of the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">1920s and 1930s<\/strong><\/span>, American academics also grew interested in the role of public discussions. These years correspond with the aftermath of World War I; the Progressive Era when many social reformers attempted to strengthen national democratic practices; and the Great Depression. Some college professors of speech responded to societal concerns by teaching students how to engage in discussions.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"William Keith, Democracy as Discussion: The American Forum Movement and Civic Education (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2004), 144, 152, 157.\" id=\"return-footnote-492-4\" href=\"#footnote-492-4\" aria-label=\"Footnote 4\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[4]<\/sup><\/a> This added focus increased and extended through the mid-1950s but largely faded out of university curricula by the 1960s.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Keith, Democracy as Discussion, 158, 193.\" id=\"return-footnote-492-5\" href=\"#footnote-492-5\" aria-label=\"Footnote 5\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Enthusiasm for deliberative discussions arose again near the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century<\/strong><\/span>. During the 1980s, increased social fragmentation, political disaffection, and even illiteracy in civic affairs prompted nonprofit organizations like the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId357\" href=\"https:\/\/kettering.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">Charles F. Kettering Foundation<\/span><\/a><\/span> and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId358\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/HCS9-QHXB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">National Issues Forum<\/span><\/a><\/span> to focus on teaching, researching, and advancing deliberative discussions. In 2002, the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId359\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncdd.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">National Coalition for Dialogue &amp; Deliberation<\/span><\/a><\/span> became a meeting place for practitioners. As the twenty-first century progressed, several universities and colleges established centers and initiatives to promote deliberative conversations on and off their campuses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Despite ongoing interest, however, few US residents today have been trained in or experienced a deliberative discussion. Instead, unproductive discourse, which we characterized in chapter 2, seems to dominate mainstream communication. Consequently, we focus this chapter on instructions for effectively <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">participating<\/em><\/span> in deliberative discussions. The next chapter offers guidance for <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">leading<\/em><\/span> deliberative discussions.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Participating in a Deliberative Discussion<\/h1>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">All participants in a discussion play a role in the outcome. Those who dominate the discussion, block the ideas of others, seek attention for themselves, or engage in excessive sarcasm obviously harm the discussion. Those who participate in the discussion with an open mind, frankness, and sensitivity to others help the discussion thrive. In the following table, we highlight five intellectual virtues\u2014and ways you can adopt them\u2014to practice good participation in a deliberative discussion.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Active listening<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">Seek to understand others\u2019 comments. When ideas are unclear, ask questions.<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">Check the accuracy of your understanding by briefly paraphrasing what a speaker has said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cCould you help me understand what you mean by that?\u201d<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cSo it sounds like you\u2019re saying\u2026\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Intellectual humility and doubt<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">Make clear the limitations of your knowledge and perspective.<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">Seek new knowledge, understanding, and a broader perspective.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cFrom what I understand\u2026but I could be wrong.\u201d<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cThat\u2019s new to me. Can you say more about that?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Inclusiveness<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">Ensure all perspectives are heard fully and fairly.<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">Invite all participants into the discussion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cI think we\u2019re missing farmers\u2019 voices. I wonder what they\u2019d think about this issue.\u201d<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cI\u2019m interested in hearing from Marcus.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Imagination<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">Entertain and develop ideas that might not be realistic when first presented but can be made more practical with a little creative thinking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cWhat if\u2026\u201d<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cMaybe we could try\u2026\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Reflectiveness<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">Think in new and constructive ways.<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">Be willing to challenge even long-held beliefs or ideas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cI never realized that before.\u201d<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-tdul\">\u201cWhat might be an argument against this idea?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Notice that employing the virtues requires <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">actively<\/em><\/span> taking responsibility for the discussion. That might sound surprising. After all, when you are not leading the discussion, it can be tempting to zone out, go along with what others say, or slyly scroll on your phone. Even as a participant, however, you can and should help shape the conversation. That means paying attention, listening ethically (as discussed in chapter 6), and speaking up in ways that embody the five intellectual virtues. When you accept such responsibility, you ensure the group will reap the benefits of deliberative discussions, to which we turn next.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Benefits and Limitations of Deliberative Discussions<\/h1>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image216.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"88\" height=\"88\" \/>The importance of deliberative discussions can hardly be exaggerated. Public deliberation provides us the invaluable opportunity to engage in discussion with those whose opinions differ. When discussing a problem of mutual concern, we realize those who disagree with us are reasonable, engaged individuals. We may even learn that how we characterize such people is untenable.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 22.4 Humanizing the Opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Imagine being a participant in a deliberative discussion about water quality, similar to the Indiana discussion explored in an earlier example. Perhaps you walk in, ready to argue against small-town inhabitants and against environmentalists.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You may discover the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The \u201clocal yokel,\u201d for example, turns out to be a third-generation farmer\u2014say, Marcus\u2014who is trying to shift from using chemical pesticides to living organisms to control pests but cannot find sufficient funding.<\/li>\n<li>The \u201ctree hugger\u201d may be a woman\u2014say, Amanda\u2014who wants to improve water quality so she and her kids can continue to enjoy canoeing together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">When the opposition is given a name and a voice to explain the reasons for their position, we can better connect as people and find more productive ways forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Also, while deliberative discussions are hard work, if done well, they result in better decisions. In contrast to when experts or officials make decisions on their own, deliberative discussion allows the public to directly influence community agenda-setting and choices. That is, ordinary residents can influence what topics community leaders attend to and how. Deliberative discussions also help community members avoid the pitfalls of unreflective bias and groupthink. A wiser set of decisions results from sharing opinions and experiences as well as from systematically considering the benefits and drawbacks of every approach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image217.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"138.666666666667px\" height=\"138.666666666667px\" \/>Deliberative discussions, however, incur limitations as well. From chapter 4, you may recall philosopher Nancy Fraser\u2019s critique of the public sphere\u2014a theory developed by sociologist and philosopher J\u00fcrgen Habermas.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"J\u00fcrgen Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996); Nancy Fraser, \u201cRethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy,\u201d Social Text 25 (1990): 56\u201380.\" id=\"return-footnote-492-6\" href=\"#footnote-492-6\" aria-label=\"Footnote 6\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[6]<\/sup><\/a> While the public sphere is meant to be a gathering of community members to discuss public issues as equal participants, it can actually privilege members with higher social status and increased knowledge of participation norms\u2014such as how the group expects you to talk and behave during a deliberative discussion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">As we further discussed in chapter 4, talk or behavior that falls outside expectations may be shut down or excluded because it\u2019s deemed inappropriate. The inappropriate talk or behavior is often accused of being <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">uncivil<\/em><\/span>. We defined <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">uncivil speech<\/em><\/span> in chapter 4 as rhetoric that violates decorum because it is disrespectful, angry, and\/or impolite. Censorship of uncivil speech can stop discussions from becoming unproductive or divisive, but it can also be abused by shutting out people with lower social status.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Typically, people in power get to decide when expectations have been violated. What that means is what counts as appropriate behavior for deliberation is not universally or objectively agreed upon, so those in power typically get to decide where to draw the line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In chapter 4, we explained that lines, or standards of decorum, are drawn through <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">policing discourse<\/em><\/span>, which is the use of rhetoric to determine preferred or appropriate ways of talking together when deliberating public issues. Policing discourse aims to censor the speech of people who challenge the social order.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 22.5 Calls for Decorum That Silence Dissent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not hard to find historical examples of people in power accusing others, typically with lower social status, of violating \u201ccivil speech\u201d or \u201cdecorum\u201d to silence their disagreement.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2717\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2717\" style=\"width: 334px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"wp-image-2717\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/54106214488_5a30b4251d_c.jpg\" alt=\"Collin Kaepernick\" width=\"334\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/54106214488_5a30b4251d_c.jpg 533w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/54106214488_5a30b4251d_c-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/54106214488_5a30b4251d_c-65x97.jpg 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/54106214488_5a30b4251d_c-225x337.jpg 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/54106214488_5a30b4251d_c-350x525.jpg 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2717\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/52522100@N07\/54106214488\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colin Kaepernick<\/a> by TechCrunch via Flickr, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">For example, in 2016 former professional football player Colin Kaepernick protested police violence against Black people by kneeling during the national anthem at games. Objectors accused Kaepernick of inappropriate behavior due to his posture (kneeling), timing (during the national anthem), identity (as a professional football player), and context (at a sports event). The most powerful US political leader at the time, President Donald Trump, publicly voiced such objections. Referring to Kaepernick and other NFL players who joined his protest, <a class=\"rId364\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/5ET2-ZDLE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">Trump proclaimed that \u201cwhen somebody disrespects our flag,\u201d the NFL owner should fire him.<\/span><\/a><a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Dan Cancian, \u201cEverything Trump Has Said About NFL Kneeling So Far,\u201d Newsweek, June 8, 2020, https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/everything-donald-trump-said-nfl-anthem-protests-1509333, archived at https:\/\/perma.cc\/5ET2-ZDLE.\" id=\"return-footnote-492-7\" href=\"#footnote-492-7\" aria-label=\"Footnote 7\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[7]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_265\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-265\" style=\"width: 256px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-265\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image219.png\" alt=\"Zooey Zephyr\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image219.png 256w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image219-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image219-65x65.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image219-225x225.png 225w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-265\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Zooey_Zephyr_20230625-4920_(cropped).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zooey Zephyr<\/a> by Pax Ahimsa Gethen via Wikimedia Commons, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In 2023, Montana Representative Zooey Zephyr, the first transgender lawmaker in Montana, argued against legislation that would restrict transgender health care for youth, warning that the bill\u2019s supporters would have \u201cblood on their hands.\u201d Montana House Majority Leader Sue Vinton called the comments out of order and then led a vote that banned Zephyr from attending or speaking during future floor sessions.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Shaylee Ragar and Acacia Squires, \u201cMontana House Vote to Formally Punish Transgender Lawmaker, Rep. Zooey Zephyr,\u201d National Public Radio, April 26, 2023, https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/04\/26\/1172158461\/montana-gop-transgender-zooey-zephyr-punishment-banned-speaking-lgbtq, archived at https:\/\/perma.cc\/M6QR-NDS2.\" id=\"return-footnote-492-8\" href=\"#footnote-492-8\" aria-label=\"Footnote 8\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[8]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In both examples, calls for respectful behavior and civil discourse censored dissenting perspectives instead of engaging with, or even debating, their merits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">When used to quell disagreement, policing discourse strategically shifts attention <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">away from<\/em><\/span> the dissent raised (in the cases in box 22.5, against racism in the legal sphere and transphobia in the legislative context) and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">toward<\/em><\/span> the individuals or groups protesting (Kaepernick and Zephyr). Consequently, such rhetoric implies that the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">individuals<\/em><\/span> need to change (or be \u201ccivilized\u201d) and that the status quo, including existing systems of inequity, should be maintained.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><a class=\"rId362\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/98HL-C8P6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">NPR\u2019s Karen Grigsby Bates goes so far as to argue<\/em><\/a> that \u201cpushing back against the status quo will be seen as inherently uncivil by the people who want to maintain it. And there are always higher standards expected of those people pushing back.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Karen Grigsby Bates, \u201cWhen Civility Is Used as a Cudgel Against People of Color,\u201d National Public Radio, March 14, 2019, https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/codeswitch\/2019\/03\/14\/700897826\/when-civility-is-used-as-a-cudgel-against-people-of-color, archived at https:\/\/perma.cc\/98HL-C8P6.\" id=\"return-footnote-492-9\" href=\"#footnote-492-9\" aria-label=\"Footnote 9\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Deliberative discussion leaders should, therefore, proceed with sensitivity in light of these limitations and historical abuses.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One suggestion, which we explore more in the next chapter, is to invite participants to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">\u201ccall out\u201d problematic language<\/em><\/span> while keeping participants in the conversation. In other words, deepen and widen the conversation instead of shutting it down or censoring voices.<\/li>\n<li>Also, encourage participants to expect a productive discussion to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">make them uncomfortable<\/em><\/span>. It is likely their assumptions and values will be challenged. They will likely hear perspectives they had not considered and realize their conclusions need to change. They may hear language that makes them upset and need to articulate why. They may also need to listen to others express anger about things they say or solutions they prefer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">If leaders take appropriate steps and participants allow themselves to be uncomfortable, deliberative discussions can model and teach the civic skills people need to productively contribute to their communities. Participating in a discussion teaches participants to listen as much as they talk; to ask questions as well as advocate ideas; to recognize the drawbacks, and not just the benefits, of their ideas; and to consider the consequences of any choice upon a wider range of community members than only themselves.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Summary<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p class=\"import-paft\">The ability to discuss civic concerns productively with your fellow residents is an integral aspect of public speaking. This chapter offered you an explanation of the nature, benefits, and US lineage of deliberative discussions. It also provided guidance on how to effectively participate in such discussions, and it warned against calls for civil speech that silence dissenting voices.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"import-blf\">A deliberative discussion is a group conversation through which a community, guided by one or more moderators, thoughtfully and thoroughly examines a complex public problem as well as the range of available solutions to ultimately arrive at a decision or conclusion.<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-bl0\">The ongoing importance of civic-centered discussions is demonstrated through several historical US movements and organizations dedicated to public discussion and adult education.<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-bl0\">Productively participating in a deliberative discussion requires exhibiting several intellectual virtues, including active listening, intellectual humility and doubt, inclusiveness, imagination, reflectiveness, and responsibility for the quality of the discussion.<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-bl0\">Leading or participating in a deliberative discussion can result in better decision-making, potentially help you connect with people whose opinions differ from your own, and teach civic skills that people need to productively contribute to their communities.<\/li>\n<li class=\"import-bl0\">The norms of participating in deliberative discussions can be used to exclude community members, particularly with marginalized positionalities, by accusing them of violating \u201ccivil speech\u201d or breaching \u201cdecorum.\u201d Such accusations can function to maintain the status quo and systems of inequity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Key Terms<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>groupthink<br \/>\npublic judgment<br \/>\npublic knowledge<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Review Questions<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ol>\n<li>What are the two main goals of a deliberative discussion?<\/li>\n<li>What virtues does an effective participant in a deliberative discussion exhibit?<\/li>\n<li>What are two benefits and one limitation of a deliberative discussion?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Discussion Questions<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ol>\n<li>How do public knowledge and public judgment differ from individual knowledge and judgment? How do they overlap?<\/li>\n<li>Which of the five intellectual virtues do you find easiest to adopt during discussions? Most difficult? Why?<\/li>\n<li>Find an example (locally or nationally) of a person who was silenced because they did not speak in appropriate ways, as defined by a powerful leader. What was the person trying to say or do? What about their way of speaking did the leader critique? Should the person have been allowed to speak that way? Why or why not?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-492-1\">Wabash Democracy and Public Discourse, \"Upper Creek Watershed, Report on Initial 319 Grant Public Meeting,\" March 16, 2022. <a href=\"#return-footnote-492-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-492-2\">\u201cHistory,\u201d The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, https:\/\/cooper.edu\/about\/history, archived February 10, 2025, at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/VQF6-HAUZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/VQF6-HAUZ<\/a>. <a href=\"#return-footnote-492-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-492-3\">Irina Rogova, \"Ford Hall Forum: Promoting Free Speech Since 1908,\" <em>Moakley Archive &amp; Institute Digital Collections<\/em>,\u00a02016, updated 2018, https:\/\/moakleyarchive.omeka.net\/exhibits\/show\/fordhallforum\/openforum, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/ANX4-D78K<\/a>. <a href=\"#return-footnote-492-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-492-4\">William Keith, <em>Democracy as Discussion: The American Forum Movement and Civic Education<\/em> (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2004), 144, 152, 157. <a href=\"#return-footnote-492-4\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 4\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-492-5\">Keith, <em>Democracy as Discussion<\/em>, 158, 193. <a href=\"#return-footnote-492-5\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 5\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-492-6\">J\u00fcrgen Habermas, <em>The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society<\/em> (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996); Nancy Fraser, \u201cRethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy,\u201d <em>Social Text<\/em> 25 (1990): 56\u201380. <a href=\"#return-footnote-492-6\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 6\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-492-7\">Dan Cancian, \u201cEverything Trump Has Said About NFL Kneeling So Far,\u201d <em>Newsweek<\/em>, June 8, 2020, https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/everything-donald-trump-said-nfl-anthem-protests-1509333, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/5ET2-ZDLE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/5ET2-ZDLE<\/a>. <a href=\"#return-footnote-492-7\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 7\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-492-8\">Shaylee Ragar and Acacia Squires, \u201cMontana House Vote to Formally Punish Transgender Lawmaker, Rep. Zooey Zephyr,\u201d <em>National Public Radio<\/em>, April 26, 2023, https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/04\/26\/1172158461\/montana-gop-transgender-zooey-zephyr-punishment-banned-speaking-lgbtq, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/M6QR-NDS2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/M6QR-NDS2<\/a>. <a href=\"#return-footnote-492-8\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 8\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-492-9\">Karen Grigsby Bates, \u201cWhen Civility Is Used as a Cudgel Against People of Color,\u201d <em>National Public Radio<\/em>, March 14, 2019, https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/codeswitch\/2019\/03\/14\/700897826\/when-civility-is-used-as-a-cudgel-against-people-of-color, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/98HL-C8P6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/98HL-C8P6<\/a>. <a href=\"#return-footnote-492-9\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 9\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"menu_order":22,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3241,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/492\/revisions\/3241"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/492\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}