Deliberative Dialogue and the Cultivation of Citizenship: A Qualitative Identification of Transformation in Autonomy Through Community Development Workshops

Abstract

How deliberative dialogue transforms participants’ citizenship remains insufficiently understood. In this study, questionnaire surveys were administered before and after a workshop organized by Ageo City to identify participants whose autonomy scores increased or decreased (“autonomy shifters”). The open-ended responses in these questionnaires were then analyzed to clarify in which round these autonomy shifters experienced “learning and awareness” and what kinds of learning or awareness they reported. Furthermore, various records were used to determine at which table the autonomy shifters sat in each round and what the age composition of their fellow participants was. By integrating this information, the specific moments and settings of dialogue in which transformations in autonomy occurred were temporally and spatially identified.