Social acceptability: A question of participatory democracy?

Abstract

The construction of social acceptability, conceived as the collective judgement of populations regarding a given policy or project, is sometimes based on the participation of the social actors concerned in the discussions that inform public decision-making. Intermediary democratic bodies where various participatory mechanisms are deployed thus play a key role in the emergence of acceptability. However, the question of the effects of participatory processes on the dynamics of social acceptability remains little studied today, either by research on social acceptability or by research on public participation. Based on projects that raise environmental concerns, this special issue draws on the intersection of these two theoretical fields in order to analyze the impact of participatory democracy mechanisms on decision-making and the construction of social accessibility. The contributions thus make it possible to reflect on the way in which intermediary democratic bodies contribute or not to social acceptability. More specifically, they explore the institutionalization of the concept as a new public management standard, the effects of the participatory processes deployed in these forums on the acceptability of a given project, as well as the effects on final decisions. In short, the reflection proposed in this issue makes it possible to see to what extent participatory mechanisms offer the conditions for a constructive debate that can better channel the societal conflicts that certain industrial projects or public policies generate, in order to build compromises that are projected into a future vision of development.