This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0894439307312631v1 26/4/411    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Quintelier, E. Articles by Vissers, S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Effect of Internet Use on Political Participation: An Analysis of Survey Results for 16-Year-Olds in Belgium

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ellen.quintelier{at}soc.kuleuven.be.

	Abstract

Conflicting claims have been put forward regarding the effects of Internet use on real-life political participation. Some argue that Internet use, and the accompanying political resources, stimulates political participation; others fear that intensive Internet use is associated with a withdrawal from public life. This article’s authors test both claims on a representative sample of 6,330 16-year-olds in Belgium. They investigate young people’s behavior, assuming that young people are the most avid information and communication technologies users and the most susceptible to the influence of various socialization experiences. The authors introduce a distinction between time spent on the Internet (time-replacement hypothesis) and various activities performed online. Results show time on the Internet does not have an effect on the propensity to participate in public life. Although some online activities are clearly and significantly associated with offline political participation, it remains to be investigated whether this relation is a form of causality.

First published on February 5, 2008, doi:10.1177/0894439307312631

Social Science Computer Review 2008;26:411.

A more recent version of this article appeared on November 1, 2008


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?