The concreteness of social knowledge and the quality of democratic choice

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Kai Ou ◽  
Scott A. Tyson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Social Knowledge ◽  
Town Halls

Abstract Democracy relies on citizens who are politically knowledgeable and engaged. However, when a voter gains political knowledge regarding important issues, through television, town halls, or social media, she also learns that there are many other politically knowledgeable voters, highlighting the importance of social knowledge in political participation. Will a voter with concrete—as opposed to hypothetical—knowledge about other voters’ political knowledge have an increased incentive to participate? Or instead, will concrete social knowledge about other voters actually inhibit participation? In this article, we develop a novel experimental design that focuses on whether concrete knowledge about other voters’ political knowledge influences political participation. Our main result shows that concrete social knowledge decreases individual voters’ willingness to vote, and thereby reduces the probability democracy chooses the majority preferred alternative, i.e. the quality of democratic choice.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 217-236
Author(s):  
Cristian Vaccari ◽  
Augusto Valeriani
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Democratic Life ◽  
Political Apathy ◽  
The Relationship

Social media can contribute to the quality of democratic life by expanding the scope of citizens’ political participation and broadening the pool of participants. However, the relationship between political experiences on social media and political participation is not so strong as to justify unmitigated enthusiasm. Social media cannot and will not “save democracy” from citizens’ political apathy and distrust. While political experiences on social media do not disproportionately stimulate participation among ideologically extremist citizens, nor among those who voted for populist political actors, treating all forms of participation as equally desirable obscures important nuances that are key to evaluating social media’s contribution to democracy. Still, social media can be part of the solution to at least two important democratic ills—citizens’ disconnection from politics and inequalities between those who choose to exercise their voice and those who remain silent.

News Engagement on Social Media and Democratic Citizenship: Direct and Moderating Roles of Curatorial News Use in Political Involvement

2018 ◽  
Vol 95 (4) ◽  
pp. 1103-1127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang Sup Park ◽  
Barbara K. Kaye
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Democratic Citizenship ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Use Behavior ◽  
News Use

Social media allow users not only to read news, but also to evaluate, reconstruct, and share it. This study conceptualizes curatorial news use via social media as an important news use behavior, which involves evaluating the existing news, adding new values by reconstructing it, and then sharing it with other social media users. An analysis of survey data from 650 South Korean adults shows that curatorial news use on social media has a significantly positive association with political knowledge, internal political efficacy, and offline and online political participation. The interaction of social media news use and curatorial news use is also significantly associated with high levels of political knowledge and political participation.

scholarly journals The role of social media in promoting political participation: The Lebanon experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 248
Author(s):  
Muhammad Saud ◽  
Dima Bassam El Hariri ◽  
Asia Ashfaq
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Talk ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Political Sector ◽  
Expression Rate

Social media, as part of the political experience, is an emerging trend in the sociology of youths and politics. The present study aimed to investigate the dynamic role of social media in the context of promoting political participation in Lebanese society. A quantitative survey method was used to collect the data from the field, and a total number of 260 questionnaires were filled in throughout the study. The study suggests that people are openly sharing their political opinions on social media platforms and that their expression rate in terms of sharing and learning political knowledge is increasing.  The majority of respondents are using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for political purposes. The creation of social media has brought about an innovative advancement when it comes to individuals participating freely for political reasoning. Additionally, with exciting features and the freedom to share videos, pictures, and status updates, social media applications increasingly allow them to participate in political discussions. Where social media is providing opportunities for the public to participate in politics, electronic media is also facilitating a generation in terms of them gaining political knowledge from political talk shows. Social media’s appropriateness for spreading something broad has triggered a contagious phenomenon that allows every notice polled to be accessed by everyone. It is possible to conclude that social media is suitable for use as an online political platform, and it provides an opportunity for the respondents to participate in the political sector of their country.

scholarly journals Political Communication With Social Media In Pakistan: Internal And External Efficacy

2021 ◽  
Vol VI (II) ◽  
pp. 130-138
Author(s):  
Hannan Khan Tareen ◽  
Malik Adnan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Transmission Of Knowledge ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Political knowledge influences political behavior and political participation as the person who has sufficient political knowledge will contribute his part in political issues and get engage himself in political campaigns. Hence, a politically informed person put an impact upon others by sharing his views and information. Now a day social media has revolutionized the world due to its unlimited features, and it made it easier for everyone to spread the news and especially the political content. Different political parties use social media platforms to engage their voters and especially youth. This study suggests that social media plays a critical role for youngsters to disseminate information regarding politics and affects the internal and external efficacy of youth by the transmission of knowledge and political participation through social media.

Social Media as a Marketing Tool for Political Purpose and Its Implications on Political Knowledge, Participation, and Interest

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-33
Author(s):  
Rakesh Naidu Ganduri ◽  
E. Lokanadha Reddy ◽  
T. Narayana Reddy
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Political Purpose ◽  
Marketing Tool ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Interest And Knowledge

Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities these days. In 2018, it is estimated that 2.65 billion people were using social media worldwide and these numbers are expected to reach almost 3.1 billion by 2021, the majority of whom are young people. With some notable exceptions, there are few studies that have been undertaken in the field of politics and social media. This study examines how usage of social media for political purpose influences the voting behavior of the voter in this realm. The authors test the proposition that using social media for political use offers a new pathway to their political participation, interest, and knowledge using path analysis. Results demonstrate that political use of social media impacted both levels of and growth in traditional political participation, interest, and knowledge during the 2019 election.

“Imagine” – Participative strategies of two online minorities within Italian context

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 688-709
Author(s):  
Francesca D’Errico
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Psychology ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Value Change ◽  
Media Activism ◽  
Italian Context

Abstract Within the field of political psychology studies, the main goal of the present study is to investigate in depth the role played by two different forms – E-Tactics vs E-Movement – of social media activism on the quality of discourses and their possible level of acquired empowerment. Two Italian cases of e-minorities (Teatro Valle Occupato and Roars) will be analysed in terms of argumentative moves following a pragma-dialectic perspective in order to observe how they can construct a possible process of conscientization. Results, achieved by means of quanti-qualitative methods, highlight how E-Tactics (Teatro Valle Occupato), differently from E-Movement (Roars), can better promote normative but also creative forms of argumentations, as activists can claim for their rights but mainly also promote value change. This type of activism is strongly correlated to political participation, differently from E-Movement, mainly oriented to individual empowerment.

How Humorous Posts Influence Engagement With Political Posts on Social Media

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Raffael Heiss
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Involvement ◽  
High Involvement ◽  
Positive Effect

Abstract. Individuals frequently process political posts on social media in the context of humorous, non-political posts, which research suggests may stimulate or dampen their engagement with the political posts depending on their political involvement. To clarify that claim, I conducted a 2 × 2 experiment ( N = 286) in which individuals viewed political posts situated among either humorous or non-humorous posts, all presented as video-recorded posts on a social media newsfeed, in a condition of either low or high political involvement. Among the results, the humorous posts directly boosted general attention, the elaboration of political posts, and the acquisition of political knowledge in the low political involvement group and stimulated political participation in the high political involvement group. Further analyses revealed that, in the low involvement group, increased attention and the elaboration of the posts may have mediated humor’s effect on the acquisition of political knowledge. Meanwhile, its positive effect on participation in the high involvement group occurred independently from general attention and the elaboration of the posts. Altogether, the findings suggest that humorous social media contexts may benefit the acquisition of political knowledge and political participation.

Mobilizing for Some

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffael Heiss ◽  
Jörg Matthes
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Social Media ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
Collective Efficacy ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
School Students ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Specific Factors

Abstract. This study investigated the effects of politicians’ nonparticipatory and participatory Facebook posts on young people’s political efficacy – a key determinant of political participation. We employed an experimental design, using a sample of N = 125 high school students (15–20 years). Participants either saw a Facebook profile with no posts (control condition), nonparticipatory posts, or participatory posts. While nonparticipatory posts did not affect participants’ political efficacy, participatory posts exerted distinct effects. For those high in trait evaluations of the politician presented in the stimulus material or low in political cynicism, we found significant positive effects on external and collective efficacy. By contrast, for those low in trait evaluations or high in cynicism, we found significant negative effects on external and collective efficacy. We did not find any effects on internal efficacy. The importance of content-specific factors and individual predispositions in assessing the influence of social media use on participation is discussed.

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