Housing Co-operatives and Digital Democracy - Basic Aspects and Empirical Evidence

Web 2.0 and social media revolutionized our communication and caused extensive social change. In wake of this digital revolution the inherent notion of democracy has changed. Increased demand for transparency, the readiness to engage in dialogue and the opportunity to participate have shown that social media increasingly impacts our democratic structures and decisions. Also housing co-operatives were affected by these developments due to their democratic structures and traditionally strong member relations. In this context social media offers a multitude of opportunities for digital participation. This paper shows the basic aspects of participation in digital democracy. It describes how housing co-operatives can use these tools and mechanisms. However, this paper also illustrates the risks that are connected to the use of digital participation. Besides the theoretical aspects, also the results of an empirical survey is presented. The survey determines the status quo of digital democracy within the housing co-operative sector in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. In addition the attitude of co-op managers regarding the risk and benefits of digital participation was surveyed. The results show clearly that, so far only a few housing co-operatives offer their members opportunities for digital participation. Furthermore, the majority of the co-op managers express a skeptical view towards this new form of media. However, at the same time co-op managers emphasize, that in future the significance of social media and digital participation will probably rise considerably.