Democratic Culture in the Metaverse. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Potentials and Perils
Edited by Matthias Quent (Nomos, 2025, Open Access)
This edited volume addresses a question that has so far hardly been examined in a systematic way: How can democratic culture be preserved, strengthened and reimagined in immersive digital spaces – in the metaverse, in VR and in social VR?
From an interdisciplinary perspective, authors from sociology, law, media and cultural studies, computer science, design and educational practice explore the opportunities and risks of immersive technologies for democracy, human rights and civil society. The volume emerged from the project Immersive Democracy within the European Metaverse Research Network.
The contributions deal with, among other things:
- theoretical foundations of “immersive democracy” and democratic culture in the metaverse
- hate speech, harassment and far-right communication in social VR and gaming environments
- DAOs as potential infrastructures for extremist organisations
- identity, gender and safety in social VR based on an avatar interview study
- potentials and limits of immersive environments for historical-political education and anti-discrimination work
- VR training for raising police awareness of hate crime
- possibilities for genuine citizen participation in virtual spaces
- legal and regulatory questions: from the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) to proposals for a fundamental- and human-rights-based metaverse governance.
Target audiences
The volume is aimed at
- researchers and students in sociology, political science, law, media and communication studies, computer science, human–computer interaction, game studies and design
- practitioners in political education, memorial and remembrance work, anti-discrimination and democracy projects
- professionals in the police, judiciary, public administration and local government
- experts in platform companies, regulatory authorities and ministrieswho are working on how to shape the “next generation of the internet”.
Open Access
The book is fully Open Access (CC BY 4.0) and available via the Nomos eLibrary:
- ePDF: ISBN 978-3-7489-4811-7
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748948117
- Link: https://www.nomos-shop.de/de/p/democratic-culture-in-the-metaverse-gr-978-3-7560-1919-9
The volume is suitable both for use in university teaching (seminars on democracy and digitality, media and law, technology assessment) and for training in civil society, public administration, the police and educational work, as well as a basis for developing strategies for the democratic regulation of immersive technologies.