Disrespect in Online Deliberation: Inducing Factors and Democratic Potentials / Falta de respeto en la deliberación en línea: factores inductores y potenciales democráticos

Scholars of deliberation conceive of respect as a key component of reasoned democratic exchange. However, disrespect abounds in public debates, especially in contemporary online discussions. This article investigates the factors that foster disrespect in online debates. It also considers whether the existence of some disrespectful utterances may actually contribute to deliberation. After all, in certain situations, some types of disrespect may be useful to public debate to the extent that they may induce reciprocity and engender discursive mobilization. To that end, the article analyzes 1,281 comments about same-sex marriage in Brazil, which were posted on YouTube and other news websites. The analysis points to: (1) a relationship between disrespect and one specific type of reciprocity; (2) an association between disrespect and anonymity; and (3) a correlation between disrespect and the use of religious frames. These results suggest: (1) the importance of disaggregating variables usually associated with "good deliberation"; (2) the relationship between reciprocity and respect; (3) the protection offered by digital anonymity with respect to angry expression; and (4) the tension, first noted by Papacharissi (2004), between politeness and incivility.