Young Citizens and New Media

Learning for Democratic Participation

Peter Dahlgren

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781134156276
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Social Aspects in Computer Science
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book integrates four distinct topics: young people, citizenship, new media, and learning processes. When taken together, these four topics merge to define an arena of social and research attention that has become compelling in recent years.

The general international concern expressed of declining democratic engagement and the role of citizenship today becomes all the more acute when it turns to younger people. At the same time, there is growing attention being paid to the potential of new media – especially internet and mobile telephony – to play a role in facilitating newer forms of political participation. It is clear that many of the present manifestations of 'new politics' in the extra parliamentarian domain, not only make sophisticated use of such media, but are indeed highly dependent on them.

With an impressive array of contributors, this book will appeal to those interested in a number of spheres, including media and cultural studies, political science, pedagogy, and sociology.

1 Introduction

Youth, civic engagement, and learning via new media

Peter Dahlgren

In the discussions and debates about the difficulties facing the established Western democracies today, many issues come to the fore, but certainly one of the key themes is the trend towards declining civic engagement. While there are of course exceptions—and certainly the current uncommonly polarized climate around the policies of the Bush administration in the US is a case in point—extensive international evidence suggests that the citizens of today’s liberal democracies show less involvement in political issues, are less inclined to vote, have less party loyalty, and demonstrate lower levels of participation in civil society than in the past. Turning to younger people, the picture on the surface, at least, generally looks even bleaker: they manifest the same patterns, only more strongly. When it became clear in the mid-1990s that the Internet was on its way to becoming a mass phenomenon, it did not take long for many commentators to make a hopeful connection: if democracy is in trouble, then perhaps the Internet can be of help, given not least that young people in particular were quickly being drawn towards it. It was becoming apparent that many in the younger generation were growing up with the newer information and communication technologies (ICTs) (e.g., Livingstone, 2002), of which the net was the foremost. Moreover, they were quickly mastering the tools offered in this new digital environment, and using them to learn about, relate to, and engage with the social world. Thus, it was hoped that they would also be using these tools to learn civic engagement.

Even with our admittedly limited historical hindsight we can still see that much of this early optimism was a bit hasty. There is no simple technological solution for democracy’s dilemmas, and the availability of communication technology is no guarantee that it will be used for civic purposes. Yet, if the optimists overshot the mark, so too did the pessimists who scoffed at the notion that the Internet would play any significant political role. Today few would simply dismiss the idea that the Internet has become an important feature of political society. Also, many would agree that this impact extends to young citizens. While political uses of the net remain comparatively small in comparison with the many other areas of use, a picture is emerging that suggests that the net is of central importance even here. The Internet is contributing in various ways to how many young people learn to become citizens, how they develop the role of civic agents, and even to the manner in which they engage in politics.

This volume brings together these overlapping concerns about the general state of democracy, questions of political engagement among younger citizens, and the role that the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) might play in the processes whereby young people learn to engage in the life of democracy. There have been a number of contributions in this area (e.g., Montgomery et al., 2004; Suorant, 2003; Bell, 2005; Delli Carpini, 2002, as well as works by several of the authors in this collection); yet more needs to be done. In this introductory chapter I first offer an overview of some of the key themes. I begin with some general perspectives on political engagement/disengagement and the role of the media, and sociocultural change more generally, in altering the conditions of democracy. I then move on to some reflections more specifically on young citizens and politics. Thereafter I address the somewhat ambivalent picture that has emerged in regard to what we can expect from ICTs in these contexts. The final section previews the chapters that follow, indicating the main contributions of each to the central themes.

Political Disengagement, Media, and Socio-Cultural Change

In Western democratic societies over the past few decades, not only has there been varying degrees of decline in voter turn-out and in party loyalty, but also a disinterest in larger ideological visions. Expressions of cynicism and contempt for the political class are not unusual. If we look beyond the political realm towards engagement in the broader civil society of associations and civic networks, even here the general pattern seems to one of decline. In the US context, Putnam’s (2000) oft-cited text presents key arguments, even if many aspects of this thesis have met with criticisms (e.g., Edwards et al., 2001). In accounting for the declining participation in traditional party politics, observers refer to a number of the institutional aspects of modern democracy, such as the often stale and unresponsive character of established political parties; the social distance between citizens and their representatives; and the growing, unaccountable power of the corporate sector. The evolution of the media landscape is also often pointed out as an important factor: the increasing conglomerate character of the media industries, coupled with neo-liberal deregulation, tends to intensify the demand for large and short-term profits, and thereby push aside most normative considerations (not least journalistic values) that may not immediately support the economic goals (Baker, 2002; McChesney, 2004; Bagdikian, 2004; Nichols et al., 2005). Journalism has been evolving in ways that evoke anxiety both within the profession and among researchers (Franklin, 2004; Gans, 2003; Downie and Kaiser, 2003; Fallows, 1997). In particular, the drift towards infotainment, tabloidization, and sensationalism is seen as weakening the knowledge base of citizens.

A traditional view would also assert that this erosion of the boundaries between journalism and non-journalism—especially with popular culture—signals an unambiguous decline in the quality of news. This trend not only hampers civic participation, it also across time constitutes a deformed civic socialization: citizens are ‘groomed’ by the news media to expect little that is of serious political use, while at the same time they are acculturated to be addressed as spectators or consumers rather than citizens, thereby deflecting or undermining their identities—and likelihood to act—as citizens (Mindich, 2005). Milner (2001) demonstrates with extensive international comparisons that the availability—and use by the public—of high quality journalism tends to correlate with higher levels of participation in democracy.

The debates on tabloidization (e.g., Sparks and Tulloch, 2001), however, indicate that there are many aspects involved and that simple categorical positions on these matters can be problematic. Such discussions begin to relocate the issues from within journalism to a view that sees journalism and its evolution in terms of broader socio-cultural changes. With the ubiquity of popular culture and entertainment, and with the cultural shifts in late modern society, it may well be that a perspective that simply reasserts the traditional form and content of the news media is travelling down a path that will soon exit from the historical scene, as the trends in news consumption suggest. While new forms of journalism are emerging, it is not clear to what extent they can compensate for the deficit in traditional political knowledge, and these trends thus remain troubling.

In the meantime, the new media culture offers—especially for young people—many areas of popular engagement other than politics. In this regard, the media manifest and amplify a number of socio-cultural trends that bear on the issue of civic engagement and disengagement, though it is not easy to specify any simple causal relationships (cf. Gibbins and Reimer, 1999), even if these more overarching tendencies at least they can be said to coexist with political disengagement. In the proliferating literature on late modernity (cf. Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2002; Bauman, 2002, 2000; Giddens, 1990) one can glean a number of intertwined trends that have particular relevance for young people’s civic engagement. Among the most pertinent are:

• The fragmentation of shared common public cultures: Society is becoming more pluralistic and differentiated along several lines: class, ethnicity, patterns of media consumption, cultural interests, lifestyles, etc. This development points to the emergence of small, disparate islands of communicative and cultural spaces. While such pluralism can be lauded in some ways, it can also hinder democracy’s dynamics.
• Mediatization of everyday life: The media are not only ubiquitous, they also increasingly play a more important role in the socialization of the young, while the impact of traditional institutions such as family, school, church, neighbourhood are in relative decline.
• The centrality of consumerism: Beyond the material and symbolic aspects of consumption, we have the emergence of a way of life (Miles 1998) that resonates with a cultural template for which life strategies, large and small, are for the most part individual rather than collective. The role, identity, and activities of the consumer have become pervasive and taken for granted, while those of the citizen become marginalized.
• Individualism becomes more pronounced: This can be seen in part as an outcome of the above; social horizons tend to emphasize personal life, the graspable local milieu; the involvement with abstract ‘isms’ declines. Identity formation becomes all the more a focused, ongoing project, where the viability of previous models of life trajectories can no longer simply be assumed.

The consequences of these transformations run deep, and the stability and efficacy of democracies come into question. The ensuing entropy encompasses at times antithetical tendencies. On the negative side we can list chaos, inefficiency, unpredictability, etc., which can serve to deflect engagement. On the positive side, we would place such trends as the increase in the range of political voices, new modes of political engagement, and even understandings of what constitutes politics, as tendencies that might be seen as openings that invite participation. The drift towards loosening and disorganising the established patterns of political communication can thus potentially extend civic engagement and be seen as democratic gains. Yet, again, it must be acknowledged that from a systems perspective, too much dispersion and poly-vocal input at some point begin to undercut political functionality and hamper governance. Democratic systems are not infinitely elastic.

Thus, the contemporary situation is ambiguous; the newer forms of extra-parliamentarian political engagement and commitments, with a focus on daily life, personal values, and single issues, offer a counterpoint to the narratives of decline (e.g., Bennett, 2003, 2004). For example, in the case of Sweden, Sörbom, (2002), using life course interviews, finds that political commitments at the personal level have in fact grown in the past decades, while commitments to parties and traditional social movements have declined. In an ambitious international comparison, Norris (2002) provides a perspective that emphasizes variation in regard to electoral politics, and a degree of optimism about the newer forms of politics. She concludes that while participation in elections has declined in many established Western democracies, it has remained fairly stable in others. Moreover, it is clearly on the increase in many of the newer democracies. In regard to the growth of new politics, she suggests that we are seeing the emergence of important new patterns of civic engagement:

…political activism has been reinvented in recent decades by diversification in the agencies (the collective organizations structuring political activity, the repertoires (the actions commonly used for political expression), and the targets (the political actors that participants seek to influence). The surge of protest politics, new social movements, and internet activism exemplify these changes. If the opportunities for political expression and mobilization have fragmented and multiplied over the years…democratic engagement may have adapted and evolved in accordance with the new structures of opportunities, rather than simply atrophying.

(Norris, 2002: 215–216; italics in original)

Young Citizens, Democracy, and Politics

Looking further at young citizens, Bruhn (1999), in a Swedish study with results typical of much such research, finds that they have today a low trust in politics and politicians, though they still affirm their support of democracy. Young citizens feel remote from the formal political system; that which is discussed does not seem relevant to them personally. Young people say often that they have difficulty identifying with the political actors, who are usually much older and normally do not seem to have insight into the life situations of young people. Also, even among those who do hold some political views there is a strong feeling that contemporary political life seems to hold few clear alternatives; it appears as various shades of grey.

There is a general sense among many that politics consists of too much unproductive bickering, at times cast in a mode of speech that is difficult to follow. At the same time, young people tend not to have detailed political information. They are not serious readers of newspapers—they tend to skim political articles—neither do they sit dutifully and watch TV news. Research on mass media journalism and young people suggests that while the young are tuning out, it is partly because they feel the news is not addressing them (e.g., Buckingham, 2000). However, among those of middle class background, many have a high competence in handling information via the new media, giving them a sense of self-confidence and social competence.

In terms of socialization, Bruhn (1999) also notes that many young people say that their parents seldom talk about politics, or even emphasize that they don’t wish to influence their children, that people in the younger generation have to come to their own conclusions. Thus, the ‘passing on of political tradition’ within the family seems to be loosening. Neither do they reflect much class-identification. They do value having influence, and tend to demand participation and desire community if they become engaged in social issues, but party politics tends not to fulfil these needs for them. In a wide-ranging study emphasizing civic competence and skills, Youniss et al. (2002), in noting similar patterns internationally, underscore that these developments can be confronted through a variety of initiatives from various corners: from the family, educational institutions, the business sector, government, civil society organizations, the media, as well as from researchers.

Certainly there is much that can be done, and one can anticipate varying degrees of success. Yet a fundamental question is exactly how one defines the problem in regard to young citizens. Is the goal to ‘bring them back into the fold’—that is, to strive to generate the kind of civic behaviour that has characterized liberal democracy in the past? Or does one re-think the preconditions and attributes of democracy in light of the social and cultural changes that characterize the present historical juncture? It would seem that the former course hold out a delimited promise for the future. And the latter course is characterized by a lack of clarity and considerable and uncertainty. The disinterest in party politics is a problem, since most visions of democracy are hard pressed to see how it could function well without their presence. And extra-parliamentarian forces can certainly enhance democratic vitality. How the present mix will evolve cannot be predicted, but we can assume that liberal democracies are unavoidably heading forward into somewhat unfamiliar circumstances.

While it is difficult to get any solid numbers of those involved in alternative politics (not least due to the often transitory character of membership), impressionistically it seems that alternative forms of engagement are on the rise, even if the participants remain a rather small segment of the population. Various social and cultural movements, single issue activists, networks, transnational linkages, NGOs, etc., are emerging outside the boundaries of conventional party politics. Analytically, the various modes of alternative po...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction: Youth, civic engagement and learning via new media
• PART I Youth, media, and democracy: Late modern landscapes
• PART II Situating young citizens' media use
• PART III Media, engagement, and daily practices
• Contributors
• Index