The Role of Media in Public Disengagement from Political Life

Wilkins, Karin Gwinn

doi:10.1207/s15506878jobem4404_3

Cited by 48 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Moreover, results from this study reveal a negative relationship between television viewing and both civic engagement and voting. These findings are consistent with previous studies that have shown newspaper reading is positively linked to civic and political participation (Keum et al, 2003;McLeod et al, 1999;Shah et al, 2001;Wilkins, 2000) whereas general television viewing has shown a significant but weaker negative association to civic and political participation (see Brehm & Rahn, 1997;Jeffries, Guowei, Neuendorf, & Bracken, 2004;Norris, 1996). It should be noted however, that general television and newspaper use measures are not ideal since they fail to examine different types of media forms and content which may produce different effects.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…It should be noted however, that general television and newspaper use measures are not ideal since they fail to examine different types of media forms and content which may produce different effects. For example, watching television entertainment has shown to have significantly negative effects on civic or political participation (see Keum et al, 2002;Norris, 1996;Scheufele, 2000), whereas viewing television news or political affairs shows can have some positive effects on participation (see Keum et al, 2003;Norris, 1996;Wilkins, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessing Cultural and Contextual Components of Social Capital: Is Civic Engagement in Peril?

Hoffman

Appiah

2008

Howard Journal of Communications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Much research on political participation and civic engagement centers on the question: ''What motivates people to get involved?'' Several communication variables have been purported to influence these activities, such as television, newspaper, and Internet use. The general conclusion is that civic and political participation is declining. However, the rates of decline (or increase) in these activities among certain racial and cultural groups, such as Blacks compared with Whites, is not clear. Furthermore, the roles of religion and the church-an important component in creating bonds and networks that encourage such participation-have received little attention among communication scholars. The authors sought to examine the intricacies among race, religiosity, and political and civic engagement by expanding the current literature on social capital to include cultural and contextual components of church involvement. They found that in a national sample, the more involved Blacks are with church and the more frequently they attend services, the more involved they are in their communities. Moreover, their findings are consistent with previous research regarding media use; newspaper reading, and Internet use were positively related with civic engagement and voting, whereas television use was not. Implications for communication research, social capital, and measurement of race and culture are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Cultural and Contextual Components of Social Capital: Is Civic Engagement in Peril?

Hoffman

Appiah

2008

Howard Journal of Communications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Perhaps online sources offer a user-friendly political forum for young adults (Davis & Owen, 1998), but gender differences in the use of the Internet can pose a challenge for equal representation of and participation by men and women to the extent that "the democratic ideal of equal governmental responsiveness to all is potentially compromised" (Verba et al, 1997(Verba et al, , p. 1053) and communication technology is disparately accessible to groups with greater economic and political resources (Wilkins, 2000). Results of recent studies indicate a gender difference in politically-oriented media use (Bennett & Bennett, 1989;Hayes & Bean, 1993;Hayes & Makkai, 1996), especially with regard to the Internet (Bimber, 1999;Verba et al, 1997).…”

Section: New Media Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered Characteristics of Political Engagement in College Students

Bernstein

2005

Sex Roles

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study was designed to examine gender differences in the political engagement of college students, in relation to perception of gender inequality, partisanship, issue involvement, and media use during the 2000 presidential and congressional campaign. A survey-based study of political engagement was conducted among 236 undergraduate students at a large northeastern university in Pennsylvania-a swing state-during the campaign. Findings support the theory that women with higher perception of gender inequality tend to be more politically engaged than women with lower perception gender inequality. Foreign policy as an issue of interest is important in this study because it is the only policy issue for which there was both a significant gender difference and a significant association with political engagement.KEY WORDS: political engagement; gender inequality perception; issue involvement.The political engagement of college students is an important area of study because college students are more likely to vote than their non-college peers and a large segment of the country's future leaders will be college graduates. As with the general adult population, gender-based characteristics of this voting-eligible population are important in relation to political perceptions, attitudes, and behavior. The present study was designed to explore the role of gender, primarily in relation to political orientation and media use, during the 2000 presidential and congressional campaign.In recent decades, the gender gap in political engagement may have narrowed in terms of voting turnout, but gender differences in other areas of political engagement endure. Studies have indicated that women-especially young women-are less interested than men are in following politics in the media, engaging in political discussion, and getting involved in campaign activities (Bennett, Rhine,

show abstract

“…The Cronbach's alpha level for this scale was .64. Lee (2005) recently employed a conceptually logical scale (although not measuring cynicism) with an alpha level of .61 while further justifying its us-NEGATIVE POLITICAL ADS, CYNICISM, AND SELF-EFFICACY age by noting that similar reliability levels also had been reported in relevant political communication literature (e.g., Bowen, Stamm, & Clark, 2000;Moy, Pfau, & Kahlor, 1999;Pinkleton & Austin, 2001;Wilkins, 2000). In consideration of this information, and based on the scale's prior usage in political disaffection research and its compliance with the factor analysis previously described, we suggest that it is a valid measure for analysis in our study.…”

Section: Dependent Measuresmentioning

confidence: 88%