Digital Media and Political Participation

Abstract

Political interest is a potentially important moderator of the relationship between digital media use and traditional forms of political participation. We theorize that the interaction between interest and digital media can be either positive or negative, depending on whether the action is voting, an elite-directed act, or a self-directed act. To test our expectation, we use British Election Studies data from 2001, 2005, and 2010. We find that digital media use is positively and consistently associated with political talk for those lower in political interest. For voting, we find a similar relationship that appears to be strengthening over time. For the elite-directed acts of donating money and working for a party, we find a highly variable moderating effect of political interest that can be positive, negative, or nonexistent.

Towards a Conceptualization of Young People’s Political Engagement: A Qualitative Focus Group Study

“…As young people are increasingly abstaining from traditional forms of politics (e.g., electoral participation), a gradual transformation of political participation modes appears to be taking place [35] and authors distinguish between conventional/formal/traditional forms of political participation and non-conventional/informal/alternative forms, as well as between latent and manifest forms of political participation (e.g., [15,36]). Rather than indicating a steady withdrawal from political life, these new participation modes reflect a new type of critical citizen [37] who still supports basic democratic values but is skeptical of conventional systems of representation and mediation and prefers participation in more horizontal and autonomous ways [38,39].…”

Same but different: A typology of Voting Advice Application users in first- and second-order elections

“…With respect to online political information consumption, one of the most important academic debates is on the question as to what extent the internet or certain digital media are capable of mobilizing voters, and specifically those who are not politically interested (Bimber et al 2014;Norris 2001). More precisely, can online tools and sites, by lowering the costs of communication and participation, increase engagement in politics?…”

The Case for Digital Activism: Refuting the Fallacies of Slacktivism

“…Through the internet the ability of individuals to reach out and interact has radically changed and, consequently, social media has become a popular tool of anyone attempting to engage in political and civic discourse. This ability has impacted the ways and the paths into political participation and led, arguably, to an increase in participation (Bimber et al, 2015;Gerbaudo, 2012;Matich et al, 2019;Mendes et al, 2018;Milan & Barbosa, 2020;Minocher, 2019;Valeriani & Vaccari, 2016). However, the lowering of communication barriers has brought with it a criticism of those who use social media as a tool to affect societal change.…”