On page 40, the Poulakoses discuss the social aspects of deliberation:

When people deliberate, then, they do so in accordance with the laws of their city and the ethical norms of their community. When they articulate their interests, they speak not as individuals driven solely by their own personal desires, but as citizens concerned with the common good. If, during their deliberation, people speak as citizens, their speeches act as reminders that to deliberate means to uphold those virtues that hold the community together and strengthen its bonds.

In Theory of Tech Comm, we're just starting to discuss Social Constructivism. This is the rather clunky definition I wrote for class the other night:

Social construction theory, as interpreted by Bruffee, states that all knowledge is communal rather than individual. Knowledge is only created through social interaction. Therefore, language is integral to knowledge since it is the means through which knowledge is made. The creation of knowledge stimulates the creation of culture.

Deliberation, as Protagoras approaches it, is the creation of communal knowledge. The Deliberation of the Grecian political and legal arenas is the use of language to define the parameters of society. Cultures are known by their limits, by what the citizens deem acceptable. Which leads us into the Panopticon, because we become self-policing - the Culture is watching.

So was Protagoras the Social Constructionist Benthamite Foucauldian Sophist? (Reverse-engineered.) I'm all tangled up in theory, and I haven't read nearly enough.