Technologies Reinforce Offline Political Participation
Technologies Reinforce Offline Political Participation
December 10, 2014
The Washington Post — Every recent election cycle has seen news stories about online activism, suggesting that new technologies might engage people who have historically been less engaged in offline politics – particularly young people, women, and people with less education and income.
If this were true, these technologies could substantially change U.S. politics. Today, one in three eligible adults skips voting in presidential elections, and one in three skips voting in midterms.
However, research from BGU finds a more pessimistic possible interpretation. What if online activism mainly offers ways for citizens who are politically active offline to amplify their already loud voices? In that case, online political opportunities may simply reinforce existing political inequalities.
The study set out to test the opposing “new mobilization” and “reinforcement” ideas.
To begin, Dr. Jennifer Oser, of BGU’s Department of Politics and Government, along with international partners, tested whether there is a distinct type of “online political participants,” a group of people who are highly engaged in online political acts, but less involved offline.
Second, the research team analyzed whether the background characteristics of online activists differ in important ways from other types of political participants.
They found no evidence to support the claim that online activism has an equalizing effect on socio-economic inequalities in political participation.
Instead, the analysis shows that online political opportunities in the U.S. in 2008 did nothing to change the long-standing pattern that those with higher education and income are much more likely to be politically active than those who are less advantaged.
Read more on The Washington Post website >>
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