New Media and Youth Political Action

participatory politics New Media and Youth Political Action Cathy J. Cohen University of Chicago Joseph Kahne Mills College Benjamin Bowyer, Mills College Ellen Middaugh, Mills College Jon Rogowski, University of Chicago About Us: The YPPSP (Youth & Participatory Politics Survey Project) research team led by Cathy Cohen and Joseph Kahne is a project of the MacArthur Research Network on Youth & Participatory Politics (YPP). The YPP network is made up of eight scholars—Danielle Allen, Cathy Cohen, Howard Gardner, Joseph Kahne, Mimi Ito, Henry Jenkins, Elisabth Soep, and Ethan Zuckerman—working at the intersection http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/. The YPP Network, funded under the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative, is also part of the DML Research Hub. For more on DML see http://dmlcentral.net/. Acknowledgements: We are enormously grateful for all the support we received in conducting this study and writing this report. We are especially grateful for the guidance and feedback we received from other members of the MacArthur Research Network on Youth and Participatory Politics: Danielle Allen, Howard Gardner, Mimi Ito, Henry Jenkins, Lissa Soep, and Ethan Zuckerman. We also greatly value the insight and assistance from Jeff Brazil, Chris Evans, Sandra Mistretti, John Rogers and Joel Westheimer, Geoffrey Knox & Associates, and An-Me Chung and Connie Yowell of the MacArthur Foundation. The generous support we received from the MacArthur Foundation enabled this work to take place. Of course, full responsibility for the content of this report rests with the authors. [cover photo: Cell Phone Freedom by Nicolas Will http://www.flickr.com/photos/numb3r/2402267054/] of youth public sphere engagement and digital media use. For more detail on YPP’s research projects see participatory politics New Media and Youth Political Action Cathy J. Cohen* University of Chicago Joseph Kahne* Mills College Benjamin Bowyer, Mills College Ellen Middaugh, Mills College Jon Rogowski, University of Chicago *Cathy J. Cohen and Joseph Kahne are co-principal investigators and contributed equally to the writing of this report. ++ contents ++ iv Executive Summary 1 Introduction 7 Section 1 | Who is Online and What are They Doing? 11 Section 2 | How Commonly do Most Youth use Digital Media to Engage in Participatory Politics, and is it an Important Dimension of Their Political Life? 15 Section 3 | What Factors Make Engagement in Participatory Politics More Likely? 19 Section 4 | Does New Media have the Potential to Facilitate an Equitable Distribution of Political Participation Among Young People from Different Racial and Ethnic Groups? 31 Section 5 | Do Participatory Politics Influence the Amount and Diversity of News and Information that Youth Encounter? 35 Conclusions & Implications | Realizing the Potential of Participatory Politics 39 Appendix A | The Youth Participatory Politics Survey Sample 41 References executive summary iv | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS o ver a period of just three days in October On September 17, 2011, responding to a blog post and circu- 2011, 75,000 people signed a petition started lated e-mail calling for a peaceful protest and “occupation” by 22-year-old Molly Katchpole on Change. of Wall Street by the Canadian-based magazine Adbusters, org to protest Bank of America’s proposed and inspired by international protests from Egypt to Lon- $5.00 debit card fee. Ultimately, over 300,000 don, hundreds of mostly young people took to the streets people signed and more than 21,000 pledged surrounding the financial district in New York City. The to close their Bank of America accounts. The movement protesters eventually set up a now-famous camp in nearby attracted national attention, and Bank of America reversed Zucotti Park. While the Occupy movement will be known its decision to charge customers. for reinstating the topic of inequality back onto the national [United by Keoki Seu http://www.flickr.com/photos/keokiseu/5152249387/] agenda, it was also successful in raising money. Accord“We’re in the business of amplifying. We’re trying to ing to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the movement raised change the balance of power between individuals and $454,000 during its first month of activity largely “from large organizations.” some 8000 online donors and other supporters.” While —Ben Rattray, thirty-one-year-old founder of Change.org Occupy encampments have been torn down and vibrant discussion of class warfare has faded, what does continue In December 2011, Internet users and activists worked is the potential for people—in particular, young people— together to defeat the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). to organize independently of elites and elite institutions Purportedly designed to thwart Internet copyright in- using new media and social media platforms. But the ques- fringement and intellectual property theft, SOPA enjoyed tion remains: How important and long-lasting is the role strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate and was that new media may play in the reorganization of young backed by powerful lobbying forces in Washington DC. But people’s lives and politics? then hundreds of websites participated in a synchronized Internet blackout in protest of the legislation, complemented by blog posts, videos, and posts and discussions in NEW DATA FOR UNDERSTANDING YOUNG PEOPLE’S forums on an array of websites, organized largely by youth. POLITICS IN THE DIGITAL AGE All of this sent a single message: the pending legislation The Occupy movement, stopping SOPA, and the power would undermine Internet freedom and invite widespread of six million users of Change.org are only three of many censorship. Within days, Congress responded and the leg- examples of how new media impact politics in America, islation was blocked. In the aftermath, the Pew Foundation especially as politics are practiced among young people. found that young people under the age of thirty followed The Obama campaign’s use of social media in 2008 helped protests over SOPA more closely than news about the to produce record turnout, especially among young blacks presidential election. and Latinos. In the 2012 elections, all those involved in campaigns are relying more heavily than ever before on “I think it is an important moment in the Capitol. This is individual citizens rising up.” — Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), quoted in The New York Times social media. The intersection of youth, new media, and politics is not exclusively a U.S. story, however. As recent movements from Tunisia to Egypt to Russia indicate, the significance of new media’s impact on political expression is international in scope. New Media and Youth Political Action |v ++defining ++ participatory politics The Youth and Participatory Politics study engage partici- defines participatory politics as interactive, pants. Witness how peer-based acts through which individuals and newspapers and cable groups seek to exert both voice and influence on television stations now issues of public concern. Importantly, these acts try to facilitate a controlled are not guided by deference to elites or formal engagement with their audience institutions. Examples of participatory politi- through the use of social media. cal acts include starting a new political group online, writing and disseminating a blog post 3. Participatory politics as practiced about a political issue, forwarding a funny po- online provide for greater creativ- litical video to one’s social network, or partici- ity and voice, as participants produce pating in a poetry slam. Participatory political original content using video, images, acts can: and text. + reach large audiences and mobilize networks, often online, on behalf of a cause; + help shape agendas through dialogue with, and provide feedback to, political leaders 4. Participatory politics afford individuals the capability to reach a sizable audience and mobilize others through their social networks in an easy and inexpensive manner. (on- and offline); and + enable participants to exert greater agency These practices are focused on expression and are peer based, interactive, and nonhierarchical, through the circulation or forwarding of and they are not guided by deference to elite political information (e.g., links) as well as institutions. The pervasive presence of such through the production of original content, practices in the lives of young people is creat- such as a blog or letter to ing an actual culture shift. The participatory the editor. skills, norms, and networks that develop when social media is used to socialize with friends Four factors make participatory politics espe- or to engage with those who share one’s cially important to those thinking about the interests can and are being transferred to future of American politics. the political realm. 1. Participatory politics allow individuals to operate with greater independence in the political realm, circumventing traditional gatekeepers of information and influence, such as newspaper editors, political parties, and interest groups. 2. Participatory politics often facilitate a renegotiation of political power and control with the traditional political entities that are now searching for ways to vi | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS To rigorously consider the impact of new media on the these reports often focus on anecdotal or single-case examples political and civic behavior of young people, The MacArthur of a protest mobilization where new media played an impor- Research Network on Youth and Participatory Politics (YPP) tant role. To date, there has been limited opportunity and developed and fielded one of the first large-scale, nationally data available to explore the relationship between new media representative studies of new media and politics among and the political action of young people in a more compre- young people. The two principal researchers for the survey hensive manner. This new survey data provide a strong basis component of the YPP, Cathy J. Cohen of the University for five major findings, summarized as follows. of Chicago and Joseph Kahne of Mills College, oversaw a research team that surveyed nearly 3,000 respondents 1. Large proportions of young people across racial and between the ages of 15 and 25 years of age. Unlike any prior ethnic groups have access to the Internet and use online study of youth and new media, this study included large social media regularly to stay connected to their family numbers of black, Latino, and Asian American respon- and friends and pursue interests and hobbies. dents, which allows for unique and powerful statistical comparisons across race with a focus on young people. Contrary to the traditional notion of a technological digital divide, the YPP study finds young people across Until now there has been limited opportunity and data racial and ethnic groups are connected online. available to comprehensively explore the relationship be- `


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the few entities to engage in this type of rigorous analysis (98 percent) youth report having access to a computer has been the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The that connects to the Internet. YPP study expands on this field-leading work by including `



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an extensive battery of items addressing participatory poli- (57 percent), Latino (49 percent), and Asian American tics and adequate numbers of participants from different (52 percent) youth report sending messages, sharing racial and ethnic groups, thus allowing for analysis of how status updates and links, or chatting online daily. different groups of young people were engaged with new media in the political realm. Youth are very involved in friendship-driven and interest-driven activities online. The YPP study findings suggest that fundamental changes in political expectations and practices may be occurring— especially for youth. The analysis of the data collected reveals that youth are taking advantage of an expanded set `


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The YPP study, summarized in this executive summary such as organizing an online group or discussion, and presented in full in a longer report available online at starting a website, or creating original media http://dmlcentral.net/resources/5058, presents important new to share online. information about the different trajectories of new media `


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uptake in the United States and its use in the political realm activity in a given week, and 32 percent engage in three across different groups of young people. It measures the or more activities a week. online participatory practices of young people in their social lives, as well as youth engagement with more traditional forms of social and political interaction. 2. Participatory politics are an important dimension of politics. `


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While the topic of new media and youth politics has garnered one act of participatory politics, while 44 percent lots of attention from pundits, politicians, and journalists, participate in other acts of politics. New Media and Youth Political Action | vii ++ key data ++ Asian Participatory politics are an important Americans dimension of politics: Ʉɇ
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41 percent of young people engage in at least 7 percentage points. one act of participatory politics, while 44 percent participate in other acts of politics. `
Specifically, 43 percent of white, 41 percent of Taking into account participatory politics, institutional 7A68@
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politics, and voting, black youth Asian American youth participated in at least are the most likely to have par- one act of participatory politics during the ticipated in at least one form of these prior 12 months. activities: Participatory politics are an addition to `
Engagement is highest among black youth, with only 25 percent reporting an individual’s engagement rather than no engagement in any form of political be- an alternative to other political activities: havior, compared with 33 percent of whites, `
Youth who engaged in at least one act of participatory politics were almost twice as likely 40 percent of Asian Americans, and 43 percent of Latinos. to report voting in 2010 as those who did not. `
A large proportion—37 percent of all young people—engages in both participatory and institutional politics. `
Among young people who engage in participatory policies, 90 percent of them either vote or engage in institutional politics. Youth get news through participatory channels but believe they would benefit from learning how to judge the credibility of what they find online: `
Youth now consume news through participatory channels. 45 percent of youth reported getting news at least once a week from family Participatory politics are equitably distributed and friends via Twitter or Facebook feeds. across different racial and ethnic groups: This rivals the 49 percent who got news at `

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information and political action may originate from politics were almost twice as likely to report voting in a variety sources and are not strictly defined by politi- 2010 as those who did not. cal elites. `



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90 percent of them either vote or take part in institutional politics. Participatory politics, however, are different than merely taking institutional political activities (e.g., participating in a campaign) and moving them online. Allowing individuals to donate to a candidate online does not make the political act of donating money a participatory act. Today, online politics frequently resemble what we have traditionally seen in the political realm and often is not particularly participa- Participatory politics are a significant dimension of the political life of young people… giving them greater control, voice, and potentially influence over the issues that matter most in their lives. tory. YPP researchers are less interested in whether various political activities occur online or offline, but are interested, instead, in the participatory norms, values, and practices of As Henry Jenkins has written, online contexts may well political engagement. be the bowling leagues of the twenty-first century. They provide a space of connection to others where trust 3. Interest-driven online activities appear to lay a founda- is built and deliberation happens. Like the bowling tion for engagement in participatory politics through league, online contexts can facilitate social exchange the development of “digital social capital.” where collective identities can be built and mobilized for civic and political engagement. Those using new media to pursue interests and hobbies from sports to technology to gaming may be gaining 4. New media has the potential to facilitate an equitable knowledge, skills, and networks, that is, digital social distribution of political participation among young capital, which makes engaging in participatory politics people from different racial and ethnic groups. more likely. Participatory politics are generally equitably distrib- a

Youth who were highly involved in nonpolitical, interest- uted across different racial and ethnic groups. driven activities are more than five times as likely to `


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engage in participatory politics and nearly four times as with the highest rate of turnout according to the likely to participate in all political acts, compared with U.S. Census Bureau—black youth (52%)—and the those infrequently involved in such activities. group with the lowest rate of turnout—Latino youth (27%)—is 25 percentage points. Encompassed within this digital social capital is the im- `


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portant element of networks. While similar to networks highest rate of engaging in at least one act of participa- of the past, which played a crucial role in politics and tory politics—whites (43 percent—and the groups with social movements, such as the civil rights movement, the lowest rate of engaging in at least one act of par- the YPP data suggest that the role and possibility of I>8>E6IDGN
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find online is trustworthy?,” and 84 percent said “yes.” 25 percent reporting no engagement in any form of political behavior, compared with 33 percent of whites, 40 percent of Asian Americans, and 43 per- CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: REALIZING cent of Latinos. THE POTENTIAL OF PARTICIPATORY POLITICS The analysis of data from the YPP study shows that partici- Black and Asian American youth are more likely to patory politics are worthy of substantial attention and that engage in friendship and interest-driven activity. these practices present both risks and opportunities for the `

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full, equitable, and productive engagement of youth in the political realm. more likely to engage in interest-driven activity Participatory politics provide a substantial opportunity to than are white and Latino youth. reinvigorate both youth politics and political life in gen- `

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is taken into account and controlled for. eral. Forty-one percent of youth ages 15 to 25 engaged in at least one form of participatory politics. These acts of participatory politics occur at rates that parallel many institution- The data on the distribution of political participation raise ally based activities, such as contributing to a political party, important questions about how the political landscape attending a meeting or campaign event, wearing a campaign might change in the future, given both the growing influ- button, or signing a petition. Focusing on participatory poli- ence of new media in the lives of young people and the tics, therefore, is important for anyone concerned about the changing demographics of the country. While youth of politics of young people and, more broadly, about the future color are active online and engaged in friendship- and of politics in the United States and abroad. interest-driven activities as well as some forms of participatory politics, they will need infrastructure and interventions Participatory politics are an important avenue to provide to leverage their proficiencies in the digital world to their young people with a level of voice and control not often benefit in the political realm. seen in the realm of institutional politics. As confidence in elected officials is at historic lows (13 percent said they 5. Many youth get news through participatory channels approved of the job Congress was doing in a recent poll), but believe they would benefit from learning how to participatory politics may provide a set of practices through judge the credibility of what they find online. which young people can communicate their political com- `

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participatory channels. Forty-five percent of youth re- mitments and instincts directly to those most relevant in their lives—family and friends. ported getting news at least once a week from family and friends via Twitter or Facebook. In addition, 21 While self-expression through participatory politics does percent said they received news from blogs or You- not guarantee that one will have influence, news reports Tube posts devoted to political and social topics, and over the past several years have been filled with examples 22 percent reported getting news or information from of how participatory politics have influenced policy debates an online community where people discuss a hobby, and changed governmental and corporate policies. sport, or fandom. `

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Almost every major campaign now employs strategies that news at least once in the past week from newspapers aim to tap the potential of participatory politics. The at- or magazines. tempt of conventional political campaigns to capture and exploit the power of participatory politics was evident in x| PARTICIPATORY POLITICS 2008 when then-candidate Obama and his supporters used of voice, especially for youth who are in the process of new media to connect with and mobilize young voters. developing their political identities. At the same time, Despite common assumptions regarding a “digital divide,” the YPP study recognizes that the promise of a democratic the YPP study found that participatory political activities society is predicated on the belief that political actors are more equitably distributed than voting. So these prac- have more than voice—they must also have influence. tices may provide a valuable access point for those who are hoping to amplify marginalized voices, especially those of youth of color, in a democratic system. IMPLICATIONS When it comes to youth engagement with participatory politics, the presence of risks as well as opportunities makes clear the need for action in this fast-changing arena. A turn to new media is not a turn away from offline activity. Rather, it is essential to recognize and highlight the integration of these two domains in the lives of young people. `

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press, educators, scholars, funders, and other stakeholders to focus on participatory politics when engaging in their work is essential if we are to understand the current state of political life and act in ways that support the quality, quantity, and equality of political engagement. `

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politics to reach its full potential. the fact that youth political engagement is the exception and not the rule. While the YPP study has vivid Participatory politics are a significant dimension of the examples of youth using digital media to meaningfully political life of young people. The risks as well as the posi- engage in varied forms of political and social change, it tive potential require careful attention. This is a unique is clear from the study’s data and a substantial number and important moment. If stakeholders at multiple levels of previous studies that most youth are not engaged in provide appropriate supports, participatory politics may institutional or participatory politics. provide valuable opportunities to engage young people in `

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the political realm, giving them greater control, voice, and politics, including youth themselves, will fail to focus potentially influence over the issues that matter most in on the distinction between voice and influence. YPP their lives. researchers do not want to undervalue the significance New Media and Youth Political Action | xi introduction 
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=IIELLLš>8@G8DBE=DIDH@G8A6ɂɅɉɅɆɂɄɈɄɃ>CH:I ɈɃɂɆɈɇɁɃɃɅɄɄɃɉɉɊɂ In December 2011, Internet users and activists worked together to defeat the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The bill purportedly was designed to thwart Internet copyright infringement and intellectual property theft. Only weeks before its vote, the legislation enjoyed strong bipartisan support: SOPA in the House of Representatives and PIPA (the Protect IP Act) in the Senate. It was backed by powerful lobbying forces in Washington DC, including the U.S. i n October 2011, twenty-two-year-old Molly Katchpole started a petition on Change.org to mobilize consumer outcry against Bank of America’s proposed $5.00 debit card fee. By the third day, seventy-five thousand people had signed her petition. Ultimately, over three hundred thousand people signed the petition and more than twenty-one thousand pledged to close their Bank of America accounts. The movement attracted national at- Chamber of Commerce, the Recording Industry of America, tention, and consequently Bank of America reversed their and the Motion Picture Association of America, which was decision to charge their customers. 1 led by former senator Christopher J. Dodd. But in December 2011, hundreds of websites participated in a synchronized Change.org, has six million users and launches ten thou- Internet blackout in protest of the legislation. Complemented sand new petitions each month. Users have started suc- by blog posts, videos, and online forums from an array of cessful petitions on Change.org to address fees by Verizon, websites—including youth-oriented sites such as youthvoices. compel Hershey to use fair-trade cocoa, and protest trying net, futuregenerationst.blog.com, and blackyouthproject. a twelve-year-old as an adult for the murder of his brother. com, —the widespread protest effort communicated a single Over the past year, Change.org has claimed eight hundred message: that the pending legislation under consideration victories on issues related to human rights, education, ani- by Congress would undermine Internet freedom and invite mal cruelty, and criminal justice. “We’re in the business of widespread censorship. Within days, Congress responded amplifying,” says Ben Rattray, the thirty-one-year-old who and the legislation was blocked. Numerous individual started the site in 2007. “We’re trying to change the balance lawmakers, including Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, of power between individuals and large organizations.”6 2 a cosponsor of the original legislation, took to their Facebook and Twitter accounts to announce their opposition Change.org is just one of many examples of new media’s to the legislation. “I think it is an important moment in impact on the politics of the country, especially as it is prac- the Capitol,” Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of ticed among young people. While not every or even most California, told the New York Times. “This is individual of the petitions started on Change.org is as successful as 3 4 citizens rising up.” In the aftermath, the Pew Foundation Molly Katchpole’s, Change.org provides an opportunity for found that young people under the age of thirty followed people to work together, voicing their concerns and mobiliz- protests over SOPA/PIPA more closely than news about ing their networks with the hope of stimulating change. It is the presidential election.5 an example of how digital media provide new and often less costly opportunities for people to engage individually and collectively in the political process. Another one of the largest and clearest examples of this is the Obama campaign’s use of social media in 2008 to reach and mobilize young people. That effort helped produce New Media and Youth Political Action |2 record turnout, especially among young blacks and Latinos. However, the intersection of youth, new media, and politics `


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greater agency through the production of original content (online or off) such as a blog or letter to the editor. is not exclusively an American story. As movements from Tunisia to Egypt detailed almost daily in news stories There are at least four factors that make participatory poli- throughout 2011 indicate, the impact of new media is inter- tics especially interesting and important to those thinking national in scope. The role of new media in protest move- about the future of American politics. ments happening throughout the world was such a prominent theme in the press that nearly every major magazine First, participatory politics allow individuals and groups and paper carried at least one major article on the topic.7 to operate with greater independence in the political realm, For example, in their first issue of 2012, Wired magazine led circumventing traditional gatekeepers of information and with a cover story entitled, “#Riot: Self-Organized, Hyper- influence such as newspaper editors, political parties, and Networked Revolts—Coming to a City Near You.”8 Thus, interest groups. Of course, the ability to write letters to the anyone thinking about or concerned with youth and their editor has always existed, but the ease with which one can political engagement must consider the role new media now blog or comment on an issue without oversight has plays and promises to play in the future of both U.S. and vastly expanded opportunities for participatory politics. global politics. For example, although most people still get news from TV broadcasts and newspapers, the rise of new media use and To rigorously consider the impact of new media on the the way it facilitates both circulation and production of political and civic behavior of young people, we developed content means that alternative narratives are now readily and fielded one of the first large-scale, nationally repre- available to counter and/or agree with newscasts and edito- sentative studies of new media and politics that includes rials. Further, youth can now play a larger role in shaping large samples of black, Latino, white, and Asian American what those in their networks see and read by sending a youth. Our analysis reveals that youth are taking advantage Tweet with a link to a story or posting something on their of an expanded set of participatory practices in the political Facebook page. Often, those who do this also comment on realm in ways that amplify their voice and sometimes their the story they are sharing, helping frame how those in their influence, thus increasing the ways young people partici- communities consume this news. This type of indepen- pate in political life. We label this expanded set of opportu- dence is not only possible for individuals, it also is available nities and actions participatory politics. to groups who often have greater capacity to communicate with and send links and information to their membership. PARTICIPATORY POLITICS Second, in addition to circumventing traditional power, Participatory politics are acts that are interactive, peer- participatory politics often facilitate a renegotiation of based, not guided by deference to elites or formal institu- political power and control with traditional political enti- tions, and meant to address issues of public concern. ties now searching for ways to engage and respond to Although participatory politics can be practiced offline, participants.9 Today, most media outlets, from newspapers these acts are often facilitated through online platforms. to cable television stations, try to boost engagement with Examples include starting a new political group online, their audience through the use of social media. In addition, writing and disseminating a blog about a political issue, traditional media outlets are often compelled to respond to forwarding a funny political video to one’s social network, and report on stories that originate or gain momentum in or participating in a poetry slam. Participatory politics the blogosphere or through social media when those stories provide a way that individuals and groups can potentially become viral. Moreover, protest movements can spread exert both voice and influence. For example, they can: through networks, as they did during the global Occupy `


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circulation of information about a social or political issue at Similarly, political parties and campaigns now seek to em- a meeting or through posting or forwarding links. ploy participatory politics to spread their message. In 2008, 3| PARTICIPATORY POLITICS for example, a great deal of participatory politics took place the content by leaving a public comment. These same in- alongside the Obama campaign, including the distribution dividuals can choose to circulate the video to their network of Shepard Fairey’s iconic “Hope” poster in many modified of friends and acquaintances using Facebook or Google+, versions. Importantly, even when political organizations adding commentary through text and images. And if they try to foster such participatory activities on behalf of their are especially interested, outraged, or committed to the own electoral ends, the individuals and groups engaged in issue or candidate, individuals can create their own person- participatory politics have greater independence than they alized material for distribution and circulation, remixing would have as part of the bureaucratic campaign effort. In or mashing up the original speech with additional images, short, the draw of participatory politics means that ma- music, and other enhancing features. jor institutions, whether newspapers, political parties, or interest groups, now focus heavily on providing opportuni- Fourth and finally, participatory politics also afford in- ties for online participation. In such instances, youth are dividuals the capability to reach a sizable audience and afforded openings to help shape agendas through engage- mobilize others through their social networks in an easier ment, dialogue, circulation, and protest. Individuals and and less costly manner.10 If, in the past, one wanted to groups can mobilize in ways that enable them to “talk back” reach a sizable audience, one needed a political party, an to elites and other institutional sources of political informa- organization, or a newspaper editor to provide a platform or tion and power, such as the press or elected officials. microphone. Participatory politics enable youth to bypass these gatekeepers, mobilize informal networks, and share what they think or want to do with a sizable audience. The new and expanded opportunities for political engagement The new and expanded opportunities for political engagement facilitated through new media and the culture of sharing and participation it cultivates are particularly relevant for youth, who generally are marginal players in formal institutions. facilitated through new media and the culture of sharing and participation it cultivates are particularly relevant for youth, who generally are marginal players in formal institutions. Participatory practices parallel various social and interestbased online activities with which youth are heavily engaged. Indeed, young people are able to share, create, and consume online, learning through their interactions with friends, family, and those with whom they share interests in the political realm. Daily, young people are creating their own political media and commentary and sharing it on Facebook. They are talking back to politicians through a post on a blog or in 140 characters on Twitter. They are circulating funny political videos as political commen- Third, participatory politics as practiced online provide for tary. And they are using sites like Foursquare to meet up greater creativity and voice, as individuals and groups pro- with friends to participate in a demonstration or protest. duce original content using video, images, and text. Con- In contrast to working through the established political sider, for example, how these participatory practices have bureaucracy, young people across the nation and the globe altered the nature of a political speech. The significance of are using new digital media to express their thoughts about a speech used to end when the politician thanked the crowd political issues, campaigns, and politicians to those they and walked off the stage. It was then up to media elites to trust and with whom they have real sway—their friends, decide what to report. families, and expanded social networks. All of these actions allow young people to define or respond to issues in Today, in many ways, it is after the speech that the impact ways that resonate with them and their friends, shape their of the event really begins. Participants can Tweet about ideas, amplify their voices, and heighten their influence. the speech during and after the event or go home and Granted, the availability of such venues for expression and blog about what was said, offering their own perspective engagement does not guarantee that all young people will and commentary. Individuals who were not present at the participate in equal measure. The digital divide in partici- speech can view it on a platform like YouTube and react to patory politics is a subject we will address later in the report. New Media and Youth Political Action |4 Having highlighted the importance of participatory Distinctively, we intentionally included large numbers of politics, we should be clear that these changes will bring black, Latino, and Asian American respondents between problems as well as opportunities. Participatory politics are the ages of fifteen and twenty-five in our sample of nearly already expanding access to information—and misinforma- three thousand so that we could more accurately explore tion. Similarly, by linking to commonly used social practic- how different groups of young people were engaged with es, participatory politics hold out the possibility of broader new media in the political realm. Given the oversampling and more equitable political participation, but these of specific groups, we weighted the sample so that it was practices may be adopted primarily by those who have the nationally representative.14 Our questionnaire includes best access to technology or by those who are already most detailed measures of youth online participatory practices in 11 engaged—reinforcing inequalities that already exist. And, their social lives as well as data on youth engagement with as many have noted,12 it is not clear whether individuals both institutional and participatory politics. As a result, we and groups’ ability to choose from where and with whom are able to explore how young people’s use of new digital they will circulate and receive information will expand media in the social realm relates to both institutional and exposure to diverse ideas or lead individuals or those who new kinds of participatory activity in the political realm. are part of informal groups to engage almost exclusively This survey and the data collected provide us with a strong with views that align with those they already hold. basis for addressing five broad and important questions. Given such points of uncertainty, it is vitally important to 1. Who is online and what are they doing? learn more about this new domain of activity and the ways `
Contrary to the traditional notion of a technological digi- it may be expanding opportunities for participation. In tal divide, young people across racial and ethnic differ- addition, this understanding is needed to guide the devel- ences have access to the Internet and regularly use online opment of programs and digital infrastructure that support social media to stay connected to their family and friends priorities such as new media literacy, platforms for produc- and pursue interests and hobbies. Overwhelmingly, white tion and distribution of youth perspectives, and credibility Ɋɇ
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assessment so that all young people’s political engagement Asian American (98 percent) youth report having access can reach its full potential. to a computer that connects to the Internet. Similarly, a majority or near majority of white (51 percent), black (57 percent), Latino (49 percent) and Asian American NEW DATA FOR UNDERSTANDING YOUNG PEOPLE’S (52 percent) youth report sending messages, sharing POLITICS IN THE DIGITAL AGE status updates links, or chatting online daily. While the topic of new media and youth politics has garnered lots of attention from pundits, politicians, and journalists, most often these reports have focused on anecdotal examples or a case-in-point of a protest mobilization where new media played an important role. Unfortunately, there has been limited opportunity and data available to comprehensively explore the relationship between new media and the politics of young people. One of the few entities to engage in this type of rigorous analysis has been the Pew Internet and American Life Project.13 Our study expands on this field-leading work by including an extensive battery of items addressing participatory politics and adequate numbers of participants from different racial and ethnic groups to allow rigorous analysis of how engagement with participatory politics varies across different groups. 5 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS 2. How commonly do most youth use digital media to engage in participatory politics, and are participatory politics an important dimension of their political life? `

Participatory politics are an important dimension of politics. Over 40 percent of young people engage in at least one act of participatory politics. Specifically, 43 percent of white, 41 percent of black, 38 percent of !6I>CD
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Interest-driven online activities appear to lay a founda- youth, with Latino youth less likely to participate in this tion for engagement in participatory politics. To varying domain. degrees, youth use new media to pursue their interests in hobbies, sports, gaming and other areas. Those 5. Do participatory politics influence the news and infor- engaged in these interest-driven activities appear to mation that youth encounter? be gaining knowledge, skills, and networks, or what we `

Many youth get news through participatory channels call digital social capital, which increases their levels of and believe they would benefit from learning how to political activity. In particular, youth who were highly judge the credibility of what they find online. Youth involved in nonpolitical, interest-driven activities are now consume a great deal of news through participa- more than five times as likely to engage in participatory tory channels. For example, 45 percent reported getting politics and nearly four times as likely to participate in news at least once a week via Twitter or Facebook from all political acts as those infrequently involved in such family and friends. At the same time, youth recognize activities. the challenge of judging the credibility of the information they receive through these media. When survey respondents were asked, “Do you think people like you Youth who were highly involved in nonpolitical, interest-driven activities are more than five times as likely to engage in participatory politics and nearly four times as likely to participate in all political acts as those infrequently involved in such activities. and your friends would benefit from learning more about how to tell if news and information you find online is trustworthy?,” 84 percent said, “yes.” We want to be clear. The data we present throughout this report are not meant to suggest that participatory politics have displaced political acts such as voting or working on a campaign, acts that are tied to the state or other institutions. Those actions still occur and still matter. What we mean to highlight and explore is the substantial degree to which opportunities for participation have expanded thereby providing additional and important mechanisms for political voice and influence, especially among young people. Moreover, contrary to expectations driven by conventional 4. Does new media create the foundation for an equitable distribution of political participation among young people, providing opportunities for voice and influence among those young people with less political power? `

Participatory politics is generally equitably distributed across different racial and ethnic groups. For example, the difference in voting in 2008 between the group with the highest rate of turnout according to the U.S. Census Bureau—black youth (52%)—and the group with the lowest rate of turnout—Latino youth (27%)—is 25 percentage points.15 In contrast, the difference between the group with the highest rate of engaging in at least one act of participatory politics—whites (43 percent)— and the group with the lowest rate of engaging in at least one act of participatory politics—Asian Americans Ʉɇ
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"DG:- rhetoric regarding a digital divide, we find young people across different racial and ethnic groups engage much more equitably in participatory politics than in voting. For some young people, engagement in participatory politics may be driven by dissatisfaction and alienation from traditional political institutions. Others may simply be taking advantage of a new and exciting means of expression and action. Whatever their draw, young people’s engagement in such participatory political acts provides a new avenue for voice. And when an issue sparks mass engagement, it can create collective efforts that challenge the power and control held by major institutions of politics, government, business, and the press. Money and power still matter, of course, but participatory politics provides new opportunities for voice. It is not yet clear how often and under what circumstances these practices will be influential. New Media and Youth Political Action |6 section 1 Who is Online and What are They Doing? Our data and the research of others also indicate that youth are very involved in friendship-driven and interest-driven activities online.16 The data in figure 1 show that the vast majority of youth use social networks to communicate with their friends and family on a regular basis (friendship-driven activities). Seventy-eight percent send messages, share status updates, or chat online, and 58 percent share links or forward information through social networks at least once a week. A smaller percentage of young people regularly use new media w hen trying to understand the factors to engage in hobbies and interests (interest-driven activities; that promote participatory politics, figure 2). On a weekly basis, roughly one-third of youth en- we believe it is important to start with gage in particular interest-driven activities, such as posting, the fact that young people today are linking to, or forwarding information; giving help, advice, connected to their friends and family or suggestions to others; or posting comments online about through new media. As demonstrated someone else’s media. About one in six young people do in table 1, young people are a very digitally connected more demanding activities like organizing an online group, generation
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ternet. Eighty-one percent own a personal computer, and activity in a given week, and 32 percent engage in three or roughly half own handheld devices (55 percent) or gaming more activities a week. devices (48 percent) that connect to the Internet as well. figure 1. Friendship-Driven Participation table 1. Access to Digital Technology Type of technology % Own A desktop or laptop computer 81 A handheld device (including smartphones) that connects to the Internet 55 A gaming device that connects to the Internet 48 Do you have access to a computer that connectsto the Internet at home? ( % Yes) 96 Average days of use in last week Sharing Links or Forwarding Information or Media through Social Network Services like Twitter or Facebook 58 5.6 3.4 1.8 Sending Messages, Sharing Status Updates, or Chatting Online Using Social Network Services like Twitter or Facebook 78 0 20 40 60 80 100 % Who Interact with Friends and Family "Daily" or "At Least Once/Week" New Media and Youth Political Action |8 figure 2. Interest-Driven Participation These practices are peer based, focused on expression, interactive, nonhierarchical, and not guided by deference to Post an Online Comment, Review, or Critique of Someone Else’s Media elite driven institutions. And though not confined to digital 33 platforms, the practices enabled by new digital media appear to have made participatory cultures more common. It 16 Create Your Own Media to Share Online is, however, the pervasive presence of such practices in the Participate in a Game Community, Guild, Competition, etc. lives of young people (as evident in the data presented in 27 table 1 and figures 1 and 2) that make it a culture shift. Spe- Use the Internet to Organize an Online Group, Discussion, or Website cifically, Jenkins and others19 suggest that the participatory 18 skills, norms, and networks that develop when social media Give Help, Advice or Suggestions to Others Related Your Interests 34 is used to socialize with friends or to engage with those who share one’s interests can and are being transferred to the Post, Link to, or Forward Information or Media Related to Your Interests 36 Participate in an Online Forum or Group Related to Your Interests political realm. 29 0 10 20 30 40 50 % Who Do Activty Relating to Interests "Daily" or "At Least Once/Week" These interest-driven activities warrant special attention, because, in many ways, they parallel the practices of participatory politics. As Henry Jenkins’s and Mimi Ito’s research teams have detailed, in the process of communicating with friends and pursuing interests online, young people develop what Jenkins calls a participatory culture.17 These online participatory cultures are the contexts in which participants practice creating and sharing ideas and material with others. Experienced participants help less Young people’s repeated participation in these online spaces or cultures may shape their expectations about how communication and interaction should happen in other spheres of life, including the political domain. experienced ones acquire knowledge and solve problems. Generally, participants develop a sense of connection with Thus, young people’s repeated participation in these online one another and come to develop and understand func- spaces or cultures may shape their expectations about how tional community norms.18 communication and interaction should happen in other spheres of life, including the political domain. And because of the shared commonalities that undergird these relationships, participants may be more likely than those involved in the traditional political infrastructure to produce and circulate information that resonates with others in the network, moving their friends and family to engage in politics, even temporarily. Moreover, because the network is often rooted in a context outside the political realm, most often conversing about and sharing information focused on popular culture or personal interactions, the boundaries of what counts as political information, discourse, and acts of politics are blurred—if not completely ignored. 9 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS 21 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS New Media and Youth Political Action | 21 section 2 0,6I8=>C<
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How Commonly do Most Youth use Digital Media to Engage in Participatory Politics, and is it an Important Dimension of Their Political Life? table 2. Participatory Political Activities % Started or joined a political group on a social network site (like MySpace or Facebook) 11 Forwarded or posted someone else’s political commentary or news related to a political campaign, candidate or issue 17 Contributed your own article, opinion piece, picture, or video about a political campaign, candidate or issue to an online news site 6 Forwarded or circulated funny videos or cartoons or circulated something artistic that related to a political candidate, campaign or political issues 20 Commented on a news story or blog about a political campaign, candidate, or issue 16 Written an e-mail or written a blog about a political campaign, candidate, or issue 7 Taken part in a protest, demonstration, or sit-in 6 Participated in a boycott, 9 Engaged in “buycotting” a s noted previously, surveys have only scratched the surface when it comes to par- 11 Participated in an event where young people express their political views (such as a poetry slam, musical event, etc.) Been active in or joined a group that has worked to address social or political issues 7 10 ticipatory practices. Often, analysts lump together activities ranging from information search over the Internet to political contributions donated online to new partici- patory forms of engagement under the broad category of “online politics.” While many of the expanded opportunities for participatory politics are enabled by the new digital media, we do not believe that being online is, on its own, what makes these practices worthy of attention. As a means of tracking what we believe is an The indicators listed in table 2 suggest that the level of engagement with participatory politics varies depending on the act. So while 20 percent of young people indicate they have circulated funny videos or cartoons or something artistic related to a political candidate, campaign, or issue, 6
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8DCIG>7JIed their own article, opinion piece, picture, or video about a candidate, campaign, or issue to an online news site. As important dimension of political activity among young researchers have documented over the years, political acts people, we included eleven indicators of participatory which take more time, energy, and initiative tend to have politics (shown in table 2) and eleven indicators of lower participation rates, whether participatory or institu- institutional politics (shown in tables 3, 4, and 5). While tional. That said, it is important to note that the rates of clearly not a complete list of possible activities, we participation in the domain of participatory politics are believe they do provide solid indications of the degree roughly equivalent to rates of participation through institu- to which individuals take part in varied activities. tional politics performed off- and online, except voting (as seen in tables 3, 4, and 5). New Media and Youth Political Action | 12 figure 3. Level of Political Participation by Type of Activity table 3. Voting and Intention to Vote among Young People Did you vote in the election last November? (All youth ages 18 - 25) (citizens ages 18 - 25) Once I am 18, I expect I will vote regularly. (Ages 15–17 who “strongly agree”) 45 49 35 % of 15-25 Year-Olds 50 % 40 41 41 44 30 20 10 Any Participatory Act table 4. Offline “Institutional” Political Activities % Raised or donating money through offline methods (check, donations at an event, etc.) Signed a paper petition 3 16 Attended a meeting, rally, speech, or dinner 9 Worked on a campaign 5 Wore a campaign button, put a campaign sticker on their car, or displayed a sign 16 Voted /Intends to Vote Any Other Political Act One might imagine that forms of participatory politics are viewed as an alternative to traditional political activity by young people and might come at the expense of such engagement. The data we collected indicate that participatory politics are better viewed as an addition to an individual’s engagement rather than an alternative to other political activities. Youth who engage in participatory politics are far more likely than others to engage in institutional politics, as well. For example, youth who engaged in at least one act of participatory politics were almotst twice as likely table 5. Online “Institutional” Political Activities % Raised or donated money online (via website, Facebook, text, etc.) 3 Signed an e-mail, Facebook, or other online petition 16 Expressed support through a social network site such as Facebook, IM, or Twitter (e.g., “liking” or becoming a fan) 28 Signed up to receive information from candidates or campaigns via e-mail or text 8 Not only are young people engaging in individual acts of participatory politics at rates comparable to their engagement in more institutional acts, but the domain of participatory politics is a substantial component of young people’s current political lives. As shown in figure 3, 41 percent of youth reported that they took part in at least one act of participatory politics, compared with 44 percent who took part in at least one act of institutional politics, and the 41 percent who reported voting (or, in the case of those not yet eighteen, who reported intending to vote in the future).* The data make it clear that participatory politics represent an important portion of youth political activity as it is practiced today. Thus, if we ignore emerging forms of participatory politics, we will miss a key element of overall political activity. * The voting data we report here are problematic and are significantly higher than actual voting rates as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. These numbers should be viewed with caution. But the general point, that participatory politics is a substantial component of overall political participation still holds. 13 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS to report voting in 2010 as those who did not. Similarly, while only 4 percent of young people engage exclusively in participatory politics, 37 percent of young people engage in both participatory and institutional politics (figure 4). The data make it clear that participatory politics represent an important portion of youth political activity as it is practiced today. Thus, if we ignore emerging forms of participatory politics, we will miss a key element of overall political activity. figure 4. Type of Political Activity among Young People figure 5. Online and Offline Participatory Politics Disengaged Engaged in Both Online and Offline Participatory Politics Voting and Other Institutional Acts Only Participatory Activities Only 34% 37% 18% Engaged in Online Participatory Politics Only Voting, Other Instiutional and Participatory Activites Engaged in Offline Participatory Politics Only 16% Engaged in Neither Online nor Offline Participatory Politics 59% 7% 4% 25% Finally, we believe it is important to remember that while Participatory politics are different than merely taking new media seem central to much of the participatory poli- institutional political activities and moving them online. tics practiced by young people, participatory politics can Allowing individuals to donate to a candidate online does be practiced offline. The New England town meeting or not make the political act of donating money a participa- grassroots organizing, for example, embody these practices. tory act. Today, online politics frequently resemble what These are spaces where peer-to-peer exchange of informa- we have traditionally seen in the political realm and often tion and ideas are prized and there is far less reliance on are not necessarily participatory. We are less interested in bureaucratic structures. Quite often what we find is the use whether various political activities occur online or offline; of both online and offline participatory practices by groups rather, we are interested in the participatory norms, values, and individuals. We should be clear, however, that although and practices of political engagement. participatory politics can be practiced offline, we are most interested in those acts that occur online, since these actions engage over one-third of young people, as is evident in figure 5. New Media and Youth Political Action | 14 section 3 What Factors Make Engagement in Participatory Politics More Likely? Jenkins has written, online contexts may well be the bowling leagues of the twenty-first century.20 They provide a space of connection to others where trust is built and deliberation happens. Thus, like the bowling league, online contexts can facilitate social exchange where collective identities can be built and mobilized for civic and political engagement. Given the potential for interest-driven activity to provide information, skills, and networks for political mobilization, it is not surprising that interest-driven engagement in hen it comes to understanding how particular seems to be related to the pursuit of participatory participatory politics work, the vast politics. Specifically, our data suggest that interest-driven networks that form the context for participation is strongly associated with higher levels participatory cultures are of great of participatory politics, especially online participatory w relevance. Indeed, fundamental to the idea of participatory politics is politics, even after controlling for other factors, such as education, gender, and race or ethnicity. Young people the recognition of people as social beings, embedded in friendship, interest, and identity-based networks. These networks are available for not only sharing information, but also calls for mobilization, the sharing of skills that help navigate politics, and in some cases, facilitating political and civic participation at reduced costs through technological advances. These networks are a component of the social resources that can be mobilized individually or Young people who are most involved in interest-driven activities are also much more engaged in political activity. collectively in the political realm to advance one’s interests. In some cases, these networks become a temporary political resource when young people find an issue, candidate, or campaign that motivates them to act. For example, we all have a friend who tries to mobilize their social network for what they perceive to be a worthy political cause by sending e-mails or text messages that encourage us to act. For these reasons we regard the norms, networks, and skills that develop in online friendship- and interest-driven contexts as a kind of digital social capital with the latent capacity for mobilization when a relevant situation arises. As Henry who are most involved in interest-driven activities are also much more engaged in political activity. As seen in figure ɇ
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participation are more than five times as likely to engage in participatory politics as those with low levels of nonpolitical interest-driven activities (2.2 participatory acts vs. 0.4 participatory acts). Similarly, those with high levels of non-political interest-driven activity were nearly four times as involved in politics overall as those with low levels of activity (4.5 political acts vs. 1.2 political acts). New Media and Youth Political Action | 16 figure 6. Political Activity by Interest-Driven Participation In contrast to the significance of interest-driven activities, Average Number of Participatory Political Activities we find that friendship-driven participation does not have a similar significant effect on participatory political activi2.0 2.2 ty once we control for other factors. Specifically, those who are most involved in friendship-driven activities are more likely to participate in politics than those who interact less 1.0 often with friends and family online. However, when the 1.2 effects of other factors, especially interest-driven participation, are controlled for, friendship-driven participation 0.4 0.0 Low Medium High Level of Interest-Driven Participation Note: The differences across categories of interest-driven participation are statistically significant. does not appear to have an independent effect. We suspect that while friendship-driven networks can be used as a political resource, most often they reinforce existing ties of family, work, and school and that friendship-driven participation less frequently broadens ones focus beyond personal Because interest-driven participation is associated with concerns, requires new skills, or expands one’s networks. other factors that influence political participation, such as education level and political interest, we used a statistical technique to control for the impact of other factors when POLITICAL INTEREST AND POLITICAL EFFICACY assessing the relationship between interest-driven activ- In addition to the relationship between interest-driven ity and engagement in participatory politics. Our analysis activities and participatory politics, our regression analysis of the data shows that interest-driven participation has also indicates that higher levels of political interest and a positive and statistically significant effect on participa- political efficacy are positively related to engagement in tory political activity, both online and offline, even after all forms of politics including participatory politics. Those accounting for demographic, socioeconomic, and attitudi- individuals who express the most political interest and nal characteristics (such as political interest and political political efficacy are about 8 times more likely to engage in efficacy). Indeed, engagement in interest-driven activity participatory politics, online and offline, than those who is the single largest predictor of those we considered when feel the least interested or efficacious (figures 7 and 8). On determining whether someone would engage in participa- average, people who agreed strongly that they were “inter- tory political activity. ested in political issues” engaged in 3.3 participatory political activities per week, while those who strongly disagreed There are numerous reasons why interest-driven activities facilitate political engagement. Individuals who are part of interest-driven groups that form around shared interests in hobbies, games, and aspects of popular culture, for example, often come from a broader range of political perspectives, skills, and experiences than one encounters in one’s family or even in one’s local community. Interaction with a diverse group can expose one to a range of opinions and attitudes, stimulating thought and deliberation around issues. In addition, interest-driven groups are frequently characterized by a participatory culture where, as noted earlier, participants become part of networks and develop skills and orientations towards participation that may well advance their civic and political engagement. Consistent with this pattern, scholars have long observed that participation in offline extracurricular activities (which are also interest driven and frequently characterized by a participatory culture) promote civic engagement later on.21 17 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS engaged in only 0.4 activities. Similarly, average involvement in participatory acts increased from 0.4 activities among those youth who felt least “qualified to participate in politics” to 2.8 among those with the strongest sense of political efficacy. Because our survey data capture one point in time, they do not permit us to assess the extent to which interest and efficacy cause participatory activity or the degree to which participatory activity cause political interest and a sense of efficacy. We suspect that, as is the case with other forms of political activity, causality flows in both directions.22 figure 7. Average Participatory Political Activity Participatory Political Activities Average Number of by Political Interest ized expressions of their preferences. While in the past one 3.3 3.0 Second is the ability of participants to circulate custommay have passed on a magazine article or letter to others in their network, today there is a greater ease in creating new, altering old, and disseminating all sorts of content for our 2.0 networks. Moreover, we are not limited to just the circulation of content, we can also use our networks to create, for 1.6 example, new groups in support of, or opposition to an 1.0 issue, candidate, or policy. Third, the process of customi0.7 zation and creation also allows for a freedom with regard 0.4 0.0 Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree "I am interested in political issues." to defining what counts as politics. Thus, among friends, political information and political action is not strictly defined by political elites and may come from popular cul- Note: The differences across categories of political interest are statistically significant. ture and the field of entertainment, as well as the political infrastructure. figure 8. Average Participatory Political Activity Participatory Political Activities Average Number of by Political Efficacy 3.0 2.8 2.0 1.8 1.0 0.9 But we want to suggest that the role and possibility of networks in a digital era is different than the way networks operated in the past. 0.4 0.0 Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree "I consider myself well qualified to participate in politics." While the possible impact of digital networks is important, it is not clear if a participatory culture or politics will Note: The differences across categories of political efficacy are statistically significant. lead to the type of sustained and expansive mobilization of networks needed to constitute something like a social movement. We could imagine scenarios where individuals REIMAGINING THE ROLE OF NETWORKS IN THE DIGITAL AGE are content to “challenge” oppression through the circula- Finally, we want to be clear that we recognize the long- tion of materials to their network or by turning their twitter standing significance of networks in politics. The mobiliza- photo a certain color in solidarity with designated struggles. tion of strong and weak networks is known to have played It is also not improbable that individuals will be organized a critical role, for example, in many social movements, in- through their digital networks to participate in mobiliza- cluding the Civil Rights Movement. But we want to suggest tions like the Occupy movement, but that the deep ties that the role and possibility of networks in a digital era is needed to engage in such mobilization over the long haul, different than the way networks operated in the past. First those highlighted by social movement scholars and journal- is the ease, in large part through the use of social media, ists such as Malcolm Gladwell, might be missing. Thus, of circulating materials not only to those we know person- despite all of the possibility embedded in the use of new ally, but also to those whom we have never met. While in media to mobilize networks into the political realm, we are the past our attempts at outreach through our networks not arguing that participatory politics are already substan- were often bound by physical constraints—to those in our tially changing the political landscape. As noted earlier, church, in our class, or on our block whom we see occasion- the data suggest that the possibility of fundamental change ally—today through e-mail and platforms such as YouTube, and impact still remains just that—a possibility. However, Facebook, Tumblr, LinkedIn and Twitter, participants have it is a possibility that has the potential to restructure major the opportunity to engage with, or at least send information divisions in society, including the digital divide. to, a much larger group of people. New Media and Youth Political Action | 18 section 4 Does New Media have the Potential to Facilitate an Equitable Distribution of Political Participation Among Young People from Different Racial and Ethnic Groups? DG
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in access to digital technology between racial and ethnic groups of young people is limited with nearly all young people in our study having some means of accessing the Internet. The data indicate that white and Asian American youth are more likely to own a desktop or laptop computer, while black and Latino youth are more likely to own a handheld device that connects to the Internet. We are not suggesting that accessing the Internet through a computer is the same as using a handheld device, however, as mobile technology improves, the differences in speed and scope are getting smaller. In general, the range of devices for accessing the Internet has expanded rapidly, from smart phones to e-readers to gaming devices, and young people seem to be making use of their expanded choices. That said, our data also indicate that nearly all young people have access to a computer that connects to the Internet. Strikingly, nearly 95 percent of all youth across racial and ethnic groups report having access to a computer that connects to the Internet. Thus, the traditional understanding Numerous studies have discussed how race and ethnic- of the digital divide that centered solely on whether one had ity map onto an online digital divide.23 Early writing in “access” to the Internet seems to be a thing of the past. this area focused largely on the inequality in access that existed, in particular between white youth and youth of table 6. Access to Digital Technology by Race/Ethnicity color. Reports explored differences in rates of ownership of Respondent, % computers that connected to the Internet between different White Black Asian Latino American racial and ethnic groups, believing that whites were advan- Own a desktop or laptop computer 84 72 95 74 taged in ownership and access to the web.24 New data have Own a cell phone, without Internet access 61 60 74 61 Own a handheld device that connects to the Internet 51 64 57 58 Own a gaming device that connectsto the Internet 47 51 43 50 Have access to computer that connects to Internet 96 94 98 96 revealed that anxiety about varying rates of ownership and therefore access to the Internet between racial and ethnic groups of young people is less needed today than it was when these earlier studies were published. Specifically, with the advances in technology and the resulting proliferation of both computers and mobile devices able to access the Internet, it is now rare that a young person does not own some device that can access the Internet. Note: All differences between groups are statistically significant except for the items measuring access to gaming devices and to a computer that connects to the Internet. New Media and Youth Political Action | 20 Concern over a digital divide today is increasingly rooted Asian American and white youth use a desktop or laptop in differences regarding the mode or speed of connection computer more frequently than do black and Latino youth, available to young people as they access the Internet. In a finding consistent with their greater rates of ownership fact, very public and political battles have been waged to of a desktop or laptop computer. On the other hand, Latino protect net neutrality and pursue universal broadband and black youth use gaming devices that connect to the Internet service for greater numbers of the population.25 Internet more often than do white and Asian American Proponents of the expansion of broadband access argue youth. Interestingly, while black youth report using a hand- that it allows for a faster, more reliable connection, com- held device, such as a cell phone, that connects to the Inter- pared with a dial-up modem. Furthermore, they suggest net more often than other youth, the differences between that broadband access is differentially distributed, with the groups are not statistically significant in our sample. those in more affluent, urban, and educated households Other researchers have found that blacks and Latinos are having greater access. The differential racial and ethnic statistically more likely to use their smartphones to access group access to broadband has also been an element—if the Internet.27 not the defining one—of the newly conceptualized digital figure 9. Use of Digital Technology by Race/Ethnicity access continues to be justified, but there is heartening data regarding the reduction in the broadband gap. A 2010 Pew Internet study found that black households are one of the few demographic groups where broadband adoption continues to grow substantially. So while there still exists an eleven-percentage-point gap in the number of white =DJH:=DA9H
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than the nineteen-percentage-point gap that existed as Average Days of Use in Past Week divide today. Concern about the variations in broadband 7.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 Desktop or Laptop Computer Cell Phone without Internet Access recently as 2009.26 Of course, broadband access in general must continue to be an issue of concern when 33 percent of whites and 44 percent of blacks do not have a broadband connection to the Internet. White Black Handheld Device That Connects to the Internet Asian American Gaming Device That Connects to the Internet Latino Note: All differences across groups are statistically significant except for the items measuring use of cell phones and use of handheld devices that connect to the Internet. Despite the increased access to the Internet gained by black and Latino youth through the use of mobile technology, While our data underscore the trend toward increasing equality in terms of access, they also highlight the significant differences in how young people from different racial and ethnic groups make of use of digital technology. issues of inequality still remain when it comes to digital media. For example, there are substantial differences in what one can do using a cell phone, compared with a computer, on the Internet. It can be difficult to write a term paper or complete a job application using a smart phone.28 Others have also openly worried that young blacks and Latinos may be using their increased access to the Internet more for “entertainment than empowerment.”29 Recent data suggesting that blacks are more likely to participate on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook underlie the concern that young blacks and Latinos may be spending most of their time online consuming content and engaging in largely social activities centered on popular culture instead of creating content or pursuing political activities.30 While our survey does not allow us to weigh in directly on This dichotomy challenges our understanding of participa- the broadband debate, we do have data on the differences tory politics, where young people use the skills learned from in the use of digital technology across racial and ethnic friendship and interest-driven activities in the political groups of young people. The data in figure 9 show that realm in new and innovative ways. Thus, the stark division 21 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS between social play and politics is not one upheld in our On average, black youth are significantly more likely than conception of participatory politics. white and Latino youth to engage in friendship-driven While our data underscore the trend toward increasing we take into account and control for income (figure 12). equality in terms of access, they also highlight the signifi- ȭ;
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activity (figure 11). This difference varies somewhat when or media through social network services than are young people from other racial and ethnic groups. Black youth figure 12. Friendship-Driven Participation are also more likely than young Latinos, whites and Asian by Race/Ethnicity and Household Income Americans to send messages, share status updates, or chat 0.8 ences between groups are not statistically significant. 0.7 figure 10. Friendship-Driven Participation by Race/Ethnicity % Who Do Activity "Daily" 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Average Score on Friendship-Driven Participation Index online via social network services daily, although the differ- 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 Sending Messages, Sharing Status Updates, or Chatting Online Using Social Network Services Sharing Links or Forwarding Information or Media through Social Network Services White Black Asian American Latino White Under $60,000 White Black Asian American Black Asian American Latino $60,000 and above Latino Note: The difference in means between blacks and other groups is statistically signifi- Note: The differences across groups are statistically significant for the item about cant for households making less than $60,000, but not for households making $60,000 sharing links or forwarding information, but not for the item about sending messages, or more. sharing status updates, or chatting online. When we turn our attention to interest-driven activities, figure 11. Average Score on Friendship-Driven Participation by Race/Ethnicity engagement among Asian American and black youth. 0.9 Average Score on Friendship-Driven Index we find a similar statistically significant pattern of more Specifically, on every indicator of interest-driven activity in 0.8 figures 13A and B, black and Asian youth are significantly 0.7 more likely to engage daily in such behaviors. Asian youth 0.6 are more likely to participate in an online forum or group; 0.5 post, link to, or forward information or media; organize an 0.4 online group; or participate in a game community, guild, or competition. Black youth are more likely to give help, 0.3 advice, or suggestions; create their own media to share 0.2 online; or post an comment, review, or critique of someone 0.1 else’s media. Furthermore, on average black and Asian 0 White Black Asian American Latino American youth are significantly more likely to engage in interest-driven activity (figure 14). Note: The differences in means between blacks and both whites and Latinos are both statistically significant, though the difference between blacks and Asian Americans is not. New Media and Youth Political Action | 22 figure 13. Interest-Driven Participation by Race/Ethnicity have an effect on interest-driven participation. Specifically, 25 % Who Do Activity "Daily" Again, when we take note of income we find that it does not African American and Asian American youth engage in more interest-driven activity than do whites, even after 20 we account for income. Interestingly, on both sides of our 9>K>9>C<
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5 are not statistically significant. 0 Post, Link to, or Forward Information or Media Related to Your Interests White Black Use the Internet to Organize an Online Group, Discussion, or Website Asian American Participate in a Game Community, Guild, Competition, etc. Latino Note: The differences across groups are statistically significant for all items. % Who Do Activity "Daily" figure 13B. Interest-Driven Participation by Race/Ethnicity 20 figure 15. Interest-Driven Participation and Household Income by Race/Ethnicity and Household Income 0.6 Average Score on Interest-Driven Participation Index Participate in an Online Forum or Group Related to Your Interests 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 15 10 . . . . . . . . White Black Asian American Under $60,000 Latino . . . . . . . . White Black Asian American Latino $60,000 and above . . . . . . . . Note: The differences in means across groups are statistically significant for both 5 households making less than $60,000 and for households making $60,000 or more. 0 Give Help, Advice or Suggestions to Others Related Your Interests White Create Your Own Media to Share Online Black Post an Online Comment, Review, or Critique of Someone Else’s Media Asian American Latino Note: The differences across groups are statistically significant for all items. Given the positive relationship between interest-driven participation and institutional and participatory politics, these findings complicate our understanding of what black and Latino youth are doing with their increased access to the Internet. It seems that some of these young people figure 14. Average Score on Interest-Driven Participation by Race/Ethnicity activities that serve as pathways to political engagement and that extend beyond mere entertainment consumption 0.5 Average Score on Interest-Driven Index are using their Internet access to engage in interest-driven or “wasting time” online. 0.4 In contrast to worries about young people of color not having access to digital technology, we might be witness- 0.3 ing a new form of the digital divide where black and Asian American youth in particular participate more regularly 0.2 than whites or Latinos in interest- and friendship-driven activities. And while a finding of “more” online engagement 0.1 among black and Asian American youth is interesting 0 White Black Asian American Latino Note: The difference in means across groups is statistically significant. and important, as noted above we are concerned with the degree to which such patterns of online engagement in the social and interest domains carry over into the political realm. 23 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS We begin our examination of the patterns of participatory When we venture into the more explicitly political realm politics across race and ethnicity by first looking at news and examine rates of participation for both online and consumption. Interestingly, the pattern of black or Asian offline participatory politics, patterns of engagement American youth being the most highly engaged emerges among different racial and ethnic groups are far less clear. again. Among the ten items we used to assess how often As detailed in figure 17, on average, white youth appear to youth look for and read news about politics, black and be more likely to engage in slightly more participatory polit- Asian American youth are more likely to seek out political ical acts. Similarly, the data in figure 18 indicate that when C:LH
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Mean Number of Participatory Political Acts 2 by Race/Ethnicity 1.4 1.5 1 0.5 0 TV or Radio News (Not Counting TV or Radio News Accessed via Internet) Print Newspaper TV or Radio or Magazines News Accessed through the Internet or via Cell Phone White Black Newspaper or Magazines Accessed through the Internet or via Cell Phone Asian American News Forwarded to You through Mailing Lists, Automatic Alerts, or Updates Latino Note: All differences across racial and ethnic groups are statistically Average Number of Participatory Political Acts Average Days of Use in Last Week 2.5 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 significant except for the item measuring print newspaper readership. 0 White figure 16 B. Political News Consumption by Race/Ethnicity Black Asian American Latino Note: The differences in means across racial and ethnic groups are not statistically significant. figure 18. At Least One Participatory Political Act by Race/Ethnicity 2 50 1.5 1 0.5 0 An Online Community Where People Discuss a Hobby, Sport, or Fandom White Twitter or Facebook Post/Tweets from Family or Friends Black A TV, Radio Show, or Website Dedicated to Entertainment, Comedy or Celebrities A Portal Website that Gathers News from Many Different Sources Asian American Blogs or YouTube Posts Devoted to Political or Social Topics Latino % Doing at Least One Participatory Political Act Average Days of Use in Last Week 2.5 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 Note: All differences across racial and ethnic groups are statistically significant for all items. 0 White Black Asian American Latino Note: The differences across racial and ethnic groups are not statistically significant New Media and Youth Political Action | 24 While white youth are active participants in the realm of politics in general and offline participatory activity for participatory politics, they seem to be more engaged in those Latinos. As their income increased their likelihood of acts of participatory politics conducted primarily offline participating in any form of participatory politics and (figure 19). Specifically, white youth are either equally or specifically offline participatory politics decreased slightly. more likely to do such activities as participate in a boycott figure 20. Online Participatory Political Acts or buycott, join or be active in a group working to address by Race/Ethnicity social or political issues, take part in a protest, start or 25 join a political group online, or forward or circulate funny videos or cartoons. Other than starting or joining a political or cartoon, most of these activities are conducted offline. figure 19. Offline Participatory Politics by Race/Ethnicity 20 % of Racial Group group online and forwarding and circulating a funny video 15 10 5 16 % of Racial Group 14 0 Starting or Joining a Political Group on a Social Network Site 12 10 8 6 Forwarded or Posted Someone Else’s Political Commentary or News 4 2 White Contributed Your Own Article, Opinion Piece, Picture or Video to an Online News Site Black Forwarded or Circulated Funny Videos or Cartoons, or Circulated Something Artistic Commented on a News Story or Blog You Read Online Asian American Written an Email or Written a Blog about a Political Campaign, Candidate or Issue Latino 0 Took Part in a Protest, Demonstration, or Sit-in White Participated in a Boycott Engaged in Buycotting Black Participated in an Event Where Young People Expressed Their Politcal Views Asian American Been Active in orJoined a GroupThat Has Worked to Address Social or Political Issues Latino Note: The differences across racial and ethnic groups are statistically significant for the items measuring starting or joining a political group online and forwarding or circulating videos. When examining other acts of political engagement, we find again that participation is largely evenly distributed across Note: The differences across groups are statistically significant for all items except the one measuring participation in an event where young people expressed their political racial and ethnic groups. The data suggest that while engagement in institutional politics are generally spread views. evenly across racial and ethnic groups, black youth are In contrast, black youth generally participate at rates equal more likely to participate in electoral-related activities such to or slightly higher than other groups in various online as voting, wearing a campaign button or sticker, or using acts of participatory politics, such as starting or joining a a social networking site to express support for a candidate, political group on a social network site; forwarding or post- 86BE6><C
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ɃɃ  ing someone else’s political commentary; contributing their figure 21A. Other Acts of Political Engagement own article, opinion piece, picture, or video; commenting by Race/Ethnicity on a news story or blog read online; or participating in (figure 20). Only the differences for starting or joining a 10 political group online or participating in an event where young people express their political views are statistically significant across different racial and ethnic groups. The participation of Asian American and Latino youth varied % of Racial Group an event where young people express their political views 12 8 6 4 across our indicators of participatory politics, although 2 their general levels of engagement were not that far behind 0 those of black and white youth. Finally, we should also note Attending a Meeting, Rally, Speech or Dinner Working on a Campaign that income was shown to have no effect on the summary measures of participatory politics (online and offline) for White Black Signed up to Receive Information from Candidates via Email or Text Asian American Latino blacks, Asian Americans, and whites. There was a small Note: The differences across racial and ethnic groups are statistically significant for negative relationship between income and participatory the item measuring attending a meeting, rally, speech, or dinner. 25 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS figure 21B. Other Political Acts by Race/Ethnicity figure 22. Voting by Race, Ethnicity, and Citizenship Status 60 % of Racial Group Who Voted in November 2010 40 % of Racial Group 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 Displaying a Campaign Button, Bumper Sticker, or Sign White Black Expressing Support through a Social Network Site Asian American Latino All Youth Aged 18-25 % of Racial Group Who Voted in November White Black Citizens Aged 18-25 Only Asian American Latino Note: The differences across racial and ethnic groups are statistically significant for Note: The differences across racial and ethnic groups are statistically significant for both items. entire population of 18-25 year-olds, but not for citizens aged 18-25. Finally, we turn our attention to those young people who % of Racial Group figure 21C. Other Political Acts by Race/Ethnicity are disengaged from the political process. As we might ex- 18 pect given the preceding text, black youth are the least dis- 16 engaged group of young people we surveyed. When we take 14 into account participatory politics, institutional politics, 12 and voting, black youth are the most likely to have partici- 10 8 pated in at least one form of these political activities. This 6 is a finding that contradicts the beliefs of many who as- 4 sume that white youth are the most engaged in the political 2 realm. In reality, Latino youth seem to be the least active 0 % of Racial Group Raising or Donating Money Online White Raising or Donating Money through Offline Methods Black Signed a Paper Petition Signed an E-mail, Facebook, or Other Online Petition Asian American Latino Note: The differences across racial and ethnic groups are statistically significant for entire population of 18-25 year-olds, but not for citizens aged 18-25. and most disengaged. They were usually the least likely to engage in individual acts of participatory political activity or institutional forms of politics and were the least likely to vote. Again, some of the differences in engagement stem from factors such as citizenship status, education, and income. These are topics we will explore more fully in future Our data on voting in figure 22 corresponds with data from analysis of both our quantitative and qualitative data. In the U.S. Census Bureau documenting a steady increase in fact, some of our qualitative data suggest that Latino youth the voter turnout of black youth since 2000, culminating may be more engaged in informal civic activities directed at in record turnouts in 2008. In fact, in the 2008 presidential bettering their neighborhoods and communities. That said, election, rates of black youth turnout were at their highest we still find the differences in engagement striking (figure levels for any racial or ethnic group of eighteen-to-twenty- 23). Disengagement is lowest among black youth with only four-year-olds since eighteen-year-olds received the right to 25 percent reporting no engagement in any form of political vote in 1971.31 The voting rates of Latino and Asian Ameri- behavior, compared with 33 percent of whites, 40 percent of can youth were significantly lower. Again, our own research Asian Americans, and 43 percent of Latinos. and data from the U.S. Census Bureau suggests that citizenship status is a significant reason for the lower voting rates among these groups of young people. At the same time, we suggest caution when considering the specific voting rates from our survey. The voting data from our survey are based on self-reports and significantly over state the actual rates of voting among young people. It is possible our respondents were reporting their voting in 2008 and 2010. We suggest that care be used in reviewing these numbers. New Media and Youth Political Action | 26 % of Racial Group Who Did Not Participate in Any Political Act figure 23. Political Disengagement by Race/Ethnicity The question still remains, however, whether youth of color, 50 in particular black and Asian American youth, can lever- 45 age their digital skills and participatory norms into viable 40 40 35 30 43 lives. Specifically, what type of political infrastructure or 33 25 resources will be necessary to help all young people, pro- 25 20 participatory politics around the issues that matter in their 15 ficient in the digital world, leverage that knowledge in the 10 political domain to advance their political commitments? 5 Can the expansion of politics through new media, in par- 0 White Black Asian American Latino Note: The differences across racial and ethnic groups are statistically significant. ticular participatory politics, be facilitated through more civics education and digital literacy classes in schools and community groups? We raise the issue of the infrastructure The data presented in this section raise important ques- and resources needed for the expansion of political voice tions about the nature of our current political landscape and influence because even before there was attention to and how it might change in the future given the growing new media and participatory politics scholars identified influence of new media in the lives of young people and a civic opportunity gap between white and youth of color. the changing demographics of the country. For example, Two members of our research team, Joseph Kahne and El- surprising to some is the finding that black and Asian len Middaugh, in earlier research found that school systems American youth seem to be leading the way in terms of us- actually exacerbate racial and class differences in political ing online platforms to engage in friendship- and interest- and civic participation among young people by “providing driven activities, as well as some acts of online participa- more opportunities to learn about politics to higher income tory politics. We make note of this trend not to diminish the students, white students, and academically successful fact that white youth on average engage in equal or slightly students.”33 Thus, addressing the question of what type of more acts of participatory politics, especially offline forms. infrastructure will be needed to act as a bridge between Nor do we want to suggest that the majority of black and Internet access and political influence and where that in- Asian American youth are engaged in interest-driven activi- frastructure will be located—schools and communities—has ties or participatory politics.32 We point to the presence of to be at the top of our agenda if we are to make use of the black and Asian American youth in online friendship-driv- potential of participatory politics. en, interest-driven, and limited participatory political activities because of the potential it presents for their increased Finally, we recognize that speculating about the changing engagement in politics. If participatory politics can be nature of American politics in light of participatory politics harnessed to be a mechanism through which young people is beyond what our data can fully support. We pose these can gain access to and control over their politics, then we broader comments and questions about the role of race in might expect that young blacks and Asian Americans, the realm of participatory politics—and American politics whose voices have often been marginalized and silenced, more generally—because we believe that such issues must will have much to gain from these new forms of expressions be a central part of any research agenda on youth and and political activity. We are not equating, however, access politics, especially as we try to assess the impact of new to voice and expression with political power and influ- media on our politics. What will it take to facilitate the full ence. Circulating a funny video or cartoon is not the same participation of young people, especially young people of as circulating a petition for the recall of an elected official. color, into our democracy? Do new media and participa- However, political commentary, even in the form of a car- tory politics offer us a chance to expand the political lives toon, can help raise consciousness and mobilize individuals of young people, especially those whose voices are marginal toward more formal and recognized institutional politics. through institutional politics? And are we prepared to hear Thus, we believe both the circulation of a funny video and from and respond to new or often silenced members of our the circulation of a political petition to be important and political community? often complementary acts in the political domain. 27 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS If, for example, black youth continue to vote at higher rates cation can provide the needed skills, knowledge, and net- than other groups of young people, and if they continue to works necessary to navigate politics. Individuals who have be among those more likely to engage in friendship- and more formal education might be better equipped to evalu- interest-driven activities as well as online participatory poli- ate information on candidates or understand and respond tics, might this mean that the voices of young blacks and to requirements for registering to vote. Similarly, those in the issues important to them become a central part of what school might be embedded in networks where the norm is perceived as the “youth political agenda”? Currently, the and expectation is that one engages in politics. Those in politics of young people is most often associated with the these same networks might discuss politics and candidates actions and attitudes of young whites. Might the country’s regularly, lowering the cost of acquiring political informa- changing demographics, participatory culture, and technol- tion. In general, there are both direct and indirect resources ogy produce conditions that open up the political realm, that one gains through education that can be used to lower even ever so slightly, allowing young people of color to gain the cost of political participation. some political voice and possibly political power? While our data point to the potential of young people of color, Figures 24 and 25 show data that confirm that education especially black and Asian American youth, to be active has a strong positive relationship with participatory politi- in the interest-driven and political realm, changes of this cal activity. Participation is highest among those who are sort will only be realized through the infusion of resources currently in college (50 percent participated in least one that provide a bridge to democratic participation. Latino activity and 27 percent participated in at least three) or youth who appear to be most disengaged across a number =6K:
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of political domains deserve special attention and resources and 28 percent did three or more). At the other extreme, to aid their sustained engagement in the political realm. participation is very low among those who left school with- All young people, however, will need some support and out attending college (27 percent of high school graduates scaffolding to help them leverage their dominance of new who have not attended college and 21 percent of those who media into political opportunity and power. left high school without receiving a diploma did at least one activity). figure 24. Participatory Political Activity by Level of Education % Doing at Least One Participatory Political Act Might the country’s changing demographics, participatory culture, and technology produce conditions that open up the political realm, even ever so slightly, allowing young people of color to gain some political voice and possibly political power? 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 No HS Diploma Currently In High School HS Grad, No College Some College Currently In College College Grad Note: The differences across levels of education are statistically significant. EDUCATION AND INEQUALITY If there is one factor that repeatedly has been shown to impact political participation, it is education. The benefit one receives from additional formal education, especially college, in the political realm is a well-established fact. Edu- New Media and Youth Political Action | 28 figure 25. Average Number of Participatory Acts Level of Education figure 27. Offline Participatory Political Activity by Level of Education by Level of Education Average Number of Participatory Political Acts 2 25 1.8 % of 15-25 Year-Olds 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 20 15 10 5 0.2 0 No HS Diploma Currently In High School HS Grad, No College Some College Currently In College 0 College Grad Took Part in a Protest, Demonstration, or Sit-in Participated in a Boycott Engaged in Buycotting Participated in an Event Where Young People Expressed Their Political Views Note: The differences across levels of education are statistically significant. No HS Diploma The impact of education on the propensity to engage in participatory politics is evident more directly when we explore the distribution of such activity across educational groups. Those with some form of college education are more likely to engage in each of the eleven indicators of Currently In High School HS Grad, No College Some College Been Active in or Joined a Group That Has Worked to Address Social or Political Issues Currently In College College Grad Note: The differences among the various educational groups are all statistically sig- nificant except for the indicators measuring whether one has taken part in a protest, demonstration, or sit-in and whether one has participated in an event where young people express their political views. E6GI>8>E6IDGN
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The inequalities in involvement in participatory politics across the different education categories are quite dramatic 30 but are visible in other forms of political participation, too, 25 as seen in figure 28. On average, those with college experi- 20 ence are much more likely to engage in politics. Those in college or college graduates are more likely to participate in 15 C:6GAN
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10 figure 28. Average Number of Other Political Acts 5 0 by Level of Education Starting or Joining a Political Group on a Social Network Site Forwarded or Posted Someone Else’s Political Commentary or News Contributed Your Own Article, Opinion Piece, Picture or Video to an Online News Site Forwarded or Circulated Funny Videos or Cartoons, or Circulated Something Artistic Commented on a News Story or Blog You Read Online Written an Email or Written a Blog about a Political Campaign, Candidate or Issue Note: : The differences among the various educational groups are all statistically significant except for the indicator measuring whether one has contributed their own article, opinion piece, picture or video. 2 1.8 Average Number of Other Political Activities % of 15-25 Year-Olds figure 26. Online Participatory Politics by Level of Education 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 No HS Diploma Currently In High School HS Grad, No College Some College Currently In College College Grad Note: The differences across levels of education are statistically significant. 29 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS figure 29A. Other Political Activity by Level of Education % of 15-25 Year-Olds 25 Finally, we should note that while we do not report the specific findings for each racial and ethnic group, the relationship between education and participatory politics holds 20 and is especially strong for whites, blacks, and Latinos, 15 even when accounting for other factors. In OLS and Logit regression analyses, two varying measures of education— 10 enrollment status (in school) and educational attainment— 5 were found to be consistently significant predictors of 0 Took Part in a Protest, Demonstration, or Sit-in No HS Diploma Participated in a Boycott Currently In High School Engaged in Buycotting HS Grad, No College Participated in an Event Where Young People Expressed Their Political Views Some College Been Active in or Joined a Group That Has Worked to Address Social or Political Issues Currently In College College Grad political activity. For example, controlling for age, gender, income, and citizenship, both enrollment and educational attainment were found to be positive and significantly related to participatory politics for all white, black, and Latino respondents.34 Note: The differences across levels of education are statistically significant. figure 29B. Other Political Activity by Level of Education 18 % of 15-25 Year-Olds 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Attending a Meeting, Rally, Speech or Dinner No HS Diploma Currently In High School Working on a Campaign HS Grad, No College Some College Signed up to Receive Information from Candidates via Email or Text Currently In College College Grad Note: The differences across levels of education are statistically significant. figure 28C. Other Political Activity by Level of Education 40 % of 15-25 Year-Olds 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Displaying a Campaign Button, Bumper Sticker, or Sign No HS Diploma Currently In High School HS Grad, No College Expressing Support through a Social Network Site Some College Currently In College College Grad Note: The differences across levels of education are statistically significant only for the item measuring expressing support through a social network site. New Media and Youth Political Action | 30 section 5 Do Participatory Politics Influence the Amount and Diversity of News and Information that Youth Encounter? the same views, and may be less likely to encounter divergent views.36 Others argue the opposite: that participatory networks and norms will actually make it more likely that individuals are exposed to a range of perspectives.37 In this section, we consider evidence from our survey that speaks to these issues. MANY YOUTH GET THEIR NEWS THROUGH PARTICIPATORY CHANNELS The significance of participatory politics becomes apparent if one considers the consumption of news tied to political or social issues. While the most common source of news for youth continues to be TV and radio, with 72 percent of young people saying they watched or listened to these here is substantial evidence that reading, watch- t sources (online or offline) at least once in the prior week, it ing, discussing, and otherwise engaging with news turns out that many youth get news through participatory that concerns societal issues are highly associated channels, as well. Specifically, we found that 45 percent of with the degree to which one is informed about youth reported getting news at least once in the past week and participates in civic and political life.35 Thus, via Twitter or Facebook from family and friends. This fre- if youth find engagement with news through quency rivals the 49 percent who got news at least once in participatory channels attractive, and if this increases their the past week from newspapers or magazines. In addition, overall engagement with the news, these practices might 21 percent said they received news from blogs or YouTube foster a positive change in both their overall level of civic posts devoted to political and social topics, and 22 percent and political activity and the quality of that activity, since reported getting news or information from an online com- they would potentially be better informed. Countering this munity where people discuss a hobby, sport, or fandom hypothesis, however, concerns have been raised that the (see figure 30). A majority of youth (53 percent) said they diminished role of formal institutions and gatekeepers in got news from at least one of these participatory channels vetting the information that circulates through participa- in the past week. In short, while a relatively small group tory channels may create problems regarding the credibility of youth circulates news or produce blogs about current and accuracy of that information. In addition, some have events, it appears that many youth get news through these been concerned that those consuming, circulating, and pro- kinds of participatory channels. ducing news through participatory channels may be part of echo chambers, interacting primarily with those who share New Media and Youth Political Action | 32 figure30. Young People’s Sources of News figure 31. Types of Media Consumption Used Traditional News Media Only % of 15-25 Year-Olds 80 70 60 Used Participatory News Media Only 19% 50 28% 40 30 Used Traditional and Participatory News Media 20 Used Neither Type of News Media 10 0 TV/Radio (Broadcast or Online) Tweets Facebook Posts Blogs 4% YouTube Posts 49% News Media Used in the Past Week Participatory channels are supplementing but not supplanting traditional broadcast structures. The lack of Youth who consume, circulate, and produce media are gatekeepers and vetting of the information that circulates exposed to views that diverge from their own more often via the Web has led to concerns that many youth may be than those who do not. Exposure to divergent perspectives getting their information exclusively or primarily through has been found to foster individuals’ knowledge, ability to participatory channels. We did not find that to be the case. consider the perspectives of others, consideration of the For the vast majority of youth, participatory channels rationales put forward by others, and tolerance for those supplement their news diet. Ninety-two percent of youth with differing views38. One concern regarding the increased who received news through a participatory channel also readership of blogs and other forms of participatory media consumed news through traditional media outlets. Only 4 is that they may function to narrow the range of views to percent of young people got news through a participatory which their audience is exposed. Similarly, some have wor- channel without also using some traditional media. This ried that those who circulate or produce media on societal finding may help allay fears that youth have replaced issues may become part of echo chambers where they broadcast news with news from Facebook and Twitter. produce and are exposed mainly to views that align with Moreover, some of the news that comes through participa- their own. Our study could not fully test these propositions tory channels was originally broadcast (the circulation of a newspaper article or op-ed, for example). Indeed, it seems as though participatory channels are supplementing more traditional broadcast sources. Figure 31 indicates that many young people have diverse news diets—roughly half (49 percent) consumed news from both a traditional and a participatory channel in the previous week. A smaller but still substantial portion of the youth population (28 percent) is exposed to news through traditional channels but not through participatory channels. Of perhaps greater concern, 19 percent of youth did not report any exposure to news in the previous week. 33 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS or whether traditional or participatory channels exposed figure 33. Are the Circulators and Production of Online Political Content Exposed to Different Political Views? consumers to more diverse viewpoints. However, we could test whether those who produce, circulate, and consume tory channels are exposed to divergent views more or less often than others. We did not find that those who engage in participatory online activities are limiting their exposure to those with whom they agree. 70 % Who "Sometimes" or "Often" Discuss Politics with People with Different Views news and perspectives on societal issues through participa- 60 64 50 52 52 40 42 30 26 20 19 16 10 0 5 Does Not Circulate or Produce Circulates, Does Not Produce Produces, Does Not Circulate Face-to-Face Circulates and Produces Online Online Circulation and Production of Political Content Note: The differences across types of news consumption are statistically significant for both face-to-face and online discussion. As detailed in figure 32, those who consumed participatory YOUTH NEED SUPPORT FOR JUDGING THE CREDIBILITY news media (whether instead of or in addition to traditional OF ONLINE INFORMATION. media) reported greater exposure to divergent views than those who only consumed traditional media. Similarly, those who circulate and produce the news are much more likely to report exposure to divergent views than those who do neither of those two activities (see figure 33). Thus, we did not find that those who engage in participatory online activities are limiting their exposure to those with whom they agree. Of course, it is still very important to learn more about how and when these diverse views are engaged. figure 32. Are Consumers of Participatory News Media % Who "Sometimes" or "Often" Discuss Politics with People with Different Views Exposed to Different Political Views? Finally, as many have noted, the vast amount of online information and the uncertain status of gatekeepers create many challenges for youth and adults alike when it comes to judging the credibility of online information. Although these issues are only beginning to be studied, a recent survey in England and Wales39 found that many youth “do not apply fact-checks to the information they find” and “are unable to recognize bias and propaganda and will not go to a varied number of sources.” Studies of adults reached similar findings.40 The youth we surveyed recognized these challenges. When asked on our survey whether “people like you and your friends would benefit from learning more about how to tell if news and information you find online is 60 trustworthy?,” 84 percent said, “yes.” 50 48 40 39 30 28 20 10 0 21 18 18 4 No Traditional or Participatory Media 3 Traditional News Media Only Face-to-Face Participatory News Meda Only Traditional and Participatory Meida Online Type of News Consumption Note: The differences across types of news consumption are statistically significant for both face-to-face and online discussion. New Media and Youth Political Action | 34 conclusions & implications Realizing the Potential of Participatory Politics politics. Moreover, these acts of participatory politics occur at rates that parallel many institutionally based activities, such as contributing to a political party, attending a meeting or campaign event, wearing a campaign button, or signing a petition. As a result, focusing on participatory politics is important for anyone concerned about the politics of young people and, more broadly, about the future of politics in the United States and abroad. i n April 2010, Michelle Ryan Lauto, an eighteen-year- Indeed, youth are using the digital skills and practices that old who hopes to be an actress, sent a message to six are pervasive in their social lives to broaden their repertoire hundred Facebook friends. She proposed that high of political activity. The strong association we saw between school students stage a walkout to protest budget nonpolitical, interest-driven activity and participatory cuts in New Jersey’s schools. She asked her network politics indicates that the skills, participatory norms, and to pass on the message; hundreds of individuals extensive networks that result from widespread engage- replied. Some responses were insulting, saying the idea was ment with new digital media are fostering forms of digital stupid. In response, she disabled the message function on social capital. Rather than viewing interest-driven practices her Facebook page. Ultimately, eighteen thousand students as distractions or a waste of time, those seeking to promote from all across the state accepted the invitation, leading to youth engagement, be they youth organizations, schools, one of the largest grassroots demonstrations New Jersey or other concerned parties, must recognize their value and has seen in the past decade. Before this, Ms. Lauto had potential. Engagement in online interest-driven participa- only used Facebook to keep in touch with friends and to let tory cultures may provide a valuable new pathway through 41 them know about her performances. which youth develop as engaged members of our political community. We expect that few will have the luck of Ms. Lauto and mobilize eighteen thousand young people with what seems like In addition, participatory politics are providing young the click of a switch on a Facebook page. But our analysis people with a level of voice and control not often seen in leads us to conclude that participatory politics are worthy the realm of institutional politics. The opportunity to voice of substantial attention and that these practices present one’s opinions and believe that what one says matters, if both risks and opportunities which we recount. In this not to politicians then to one’s networks of friends and section, we also identify some implications for action for families, is often a necessary first step if an individual is those desiring to support the full, equitable, and productive to remain engaged over time. It appears that participatory engagement of youth in the political realm. politics provide voice and belief that one matters, important contributions in and of themselves. Moreover, in an Participatory politics provide a substantial opportunity era where confidence in elected officials is at historic lows to reinvigorate both youth politics and political life in (only 13 percent said they approved of the job Congress was general. Forty-one percent of youth aged fifteen to twenty- doing in a recent poll42), participatory politics provides a set five have engaged in at least one form of participatory of practices through which young people can communicate New Media and Youth Political Action | 36 their political commitments and instincts directly to those 25 percent of blacks. In addition, as with most forms of most relevant in their lives—their family and friends. For young people’s political activity, those who are in school example, we found that participatory culture is now a prom- and who have attained higher education are much more inent factor when it comes to circulating information on involved. College graduates participated in almost three societal issues that matter to young people. Indeed, youth times as many acts of participatory politics in the past year report that Facebook posts and Tweets on Twitter from ɂɈ
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family and friends are among their most common sources kinds of challenges. First, and most obviously, it means for news, information, and perspectives. that substantial portions of youth are far less likely to have voice and influence. In addition, it means that interven- Moreover, news reports over the past several years have tions aimed at leveraging the full potential of participatory been filled with examples of youth and adults engaging in politics cannot focus solely on schools and, especially, can- participatory politics in ways that have influenced conse- not focus solely on colleges, even if those are institutional quential policy debates and, in many cases, in ways that locations where reaching and mobilizing young people may have supported changed governmental and corporate poli- appear to be most efficient. cies. These examples range in scale from the Arab Spring to protests over SOPA to any number of smaller-scale and A second risk relates to the very real potential for misin- often local actions that did not attract national or interna- formation. The new digital media enable individuals to tional attention. Some of these efforts, like Kony 2012, had circumvent traditional gatekeepers of information and enormous distribution (their video has had more than 100 knowledge (broadcast networks, policy experts, governmen- million views on YouTube and Vimeo43) and influenced tal organizations) and connect directly with others who both public discourse and the media agenda, but had de- share their interests. Youth, to a degree never before seen, batable accuracy and impact when assessed by traditional are clearly information rich. At the same time, the vast standards. Moreover, these efforts were not tied to a partic- majority (84 percent) report that they and their peers would ular ideology. They included, for example, ways that youth benefit from help judging the credibility of all that they can mobilized for Obama in 2008, for the Dream Act in 2010, access. It remains to be seen whether this expanded access and for Ron Paul and libertarian causes in 201244. Indeed, to information will lead youth to become better informed. it is now clear that almost every major campaign employs strategies that aim to tap the potential of participatory A third risk concerns ways that attending to participatory politics.45 political activity may obscure the fact that youth engagement in particular political acts are the exception and not Finally—and contrary to many widely circulated expecta- the rule. One need only review the data we have presented tions regarding a digital divide—we found that participa- to see that most young people are infrequently engaged tory political activities are more equitably distributed than in politics, whether on- or offline. Other than voting in voting. Young people of color, in particular black and Asian presidential elections, no forms of political participation American youth, are using their digital acumen to lever- are common. While we have vivid examples of youth using age their voices and sometimes influence others through digital media to meaningfully engage in varied forms of online participatory politics. These practices may provide political and social change, it is clear from our data and a a valuable access point for those who are hoping to amplify substantial number of previous studies that most youth are marginalized voices in our democratic system. not engaged in institutional or participatory politics. One should not assume that the new digital media or the alter- Participatory politics clearly presents risks as well as native paradigm of participatory politics will organically opportunities. While it is true that participatory politics expand youth political engagement. are more equitably distributed than voting, some formidable inequalities still exist. For example, on many of our Finally, there is a risk that proponents of participatory measures of participatory politics and of political engage- politics, including youth themselves, will fail to focus on ment more generally, Latinos and Asian Americans lagged the distinction between voice and influence. We should behind whites and blacks. Forty-three percent of Latinos be clear: we do not want to undervalue the significance and 40 percent of Asian Americans said that they did of voice, especially for youth who are in the process of not participate in any of the political activities we asked developing their political identities. At the same time, about, while this was true of only 33 percent of whites and we recognize that the promise of a democratic society is 37 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS predicated on the belief that political actors have more than informal educational settings that strengthen their ability voice. They must also have influence. As Henry Milner has and desire to produce media that is informed, persuasive, argued, “Generations that turn their backs on politics in and distributed effectively.47 favor of individual expression will continue to find their priorities at the top of society’s wish list—and at the bottom It also seems likely that organizations hoping to tap the full of the ‘to do’ list.”46 potential of this new domain will benefit from opportunities to learn about and reflect on the impact of varied strate- Fortunately, as reported earlier (see figure 4), we do not see gies for leveraging the potential of participatory politics. evidence that those who engage in participatory politics are Designers and intermediary organizations may also benefit “turning their backs” on institutional politics. Data from from considering ways that new kinds of digital infrastruc- our survey indicate that youth who engage in participatory ture may support desired practices ranging from enabling politics are much more likely to also engage in institutional dialog across difference, assessments of the credibility of political activities such as voting than are those who do not information, media production, and mobilizing others. In engage in participatory acts. Still, because many forms of saying this, we are not suggesting that a turn to new media participatory politics focus on communication, it may be is a turn away from offline activity. Rather, we are highlight- that they do more to promote voice than influence. ing how essential it is to recognize the integration of these two domains in the lives of young people. For example, it is clear that black and Asian American youth are proficient IMPLICATIONS in friendship and interest-driven engagement. What may When it comes to youth engagement with participatory pol- be needed is offline interventions to help them apply their itics, the prevalence of risks as well as opportunities make digital skills in the political realm. the need for action all the more clear. It is with this hope that we outline several priorities. First, broadening the fo- Finally, as noted above, some of the ways youth engage with cus of policymakers, parents, the press, educators, scholars, participatory politics may foster more voice than influence. funders, and other stakeholders to include participatory Indeed, the knowledge, skills, resources, and networks that politics when engaging in their work is essential if we are to will enable youth to be listened to by those with the power understand the current state of political life and act in ways to advance their priorities may not be adequately or equi- that support the quality, quantity, and equality of political tably distributed. Promoting broad and equitable access to engagement. Moreover, as noted earlier, overall levels of the support, training, and infrastructure needed to move youth political engagement are lower than many desire and from voice to influence will be important in order for par- participatory politics provide youth with opportunities for ticipatory politics to reach its full potential. voice and agency that are rarely granted within formal political institutions. Thus, while recognizing the prevalence In short, participatory politics are an important dimension and significance of participatory politics is a key first step, of political life. They enable individuals to mobilize others, it is also essential that stakeholders work to identify ways help shape agendas, and exert greater agency through the that infrastructure, policies, and educational programs can circulation and production of content. Through participa- support individuals and organizations so that all youth can tory politics, youth can tap into their networks and reach more fully tap the potential of these practices. And while large audiences. Importantly, these participatory activities the data presented in this report do not enable assessment take place with greater independence from formal civic and of particular strategies, there are leverage points for poli- political institutions. cymakers, parents, media designers, educators, and others who can help promote more of what is desired and less of How often, how equitably, and how well the potential of what is problematic. For example, it is clear that the digital participatory politics will be realized is still far from clear. era expands the need for media literacies. Youth must learn This is a unique and important moment. If stakeholders at how to judge the credibility of online information and how multiple levels work hard to provide appropriate supports, to find divergent views on varied issues. In addition, while participatory politics may provide valuable opportunities we can probably assume that youth will learn to use many to engage young people in the political realm, giving them aspects of their cell phones without formal instruction, they greater control, voice, and hopefully influence over the is- may well benefit from supports and programs in formal and sues that matter most in their lives. New Media and Youth Political Action | 38 appendix a The Youth Participatory Politics Survey Sample one eligible household member was selected into the sample. All individuals initially sampled from the KN panel, whether directly or through a parent, were administered the survey online from February 10 and June 24, 2011. The H8G::C:G
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respondents and of these respondents who qualified for the main survey, 95 percent completed the survey (see table 1). These online surveys were supplemented by 284 phone interviews obtained between June 9 and July 14, 2011 from an additional sample drawn from KN’s internet panel. Fifty percent of those sampled completed the screener, and of he 2011 Youth Participatory Politics survey was those who qualified for the main survey, the completion conducted by Knowledge Networks (KN) on behalf rate was 42 percent. t versions. The median online respondent completed the ics. Because of the difficulty in reaching members of these survey in 35 minutes, and the median telephone interview target populations, particularly minors, the Internet sample lasted 44 minutes. was supplemented by an address-based sample, to whom of Mills College. The survey was administered through online and telephone modes from Feb- In order to be able to make meaningful comparison across ruary 9, 2011 to July 14, 2011. Both modes were racial and ethnic groups, the study also included oversam- administered in English- and Spanish-language ples of African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispan- the survey was administered either through the Internet The target population for the survey comprised young peo- or by telephone. The sample frame was drawn from the ple between fifteen and twenty-five years of age living in the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File, which was United States from four ethnic/racial groups: non-Hispanic combined with additional database sources to over-sample whites, non-Hispanic blacks, non-Hispanic Asians, and households believed to contain members of the targeted Hispanics (of any race). The sample of this population was racial/ethnic and age groups. Surnames in the address drawn from two sources: Knowledge Networks’ (KN) prob- database, along with additional information about the ability-based internet panel and an address-based sample household, were processed to identify households believed (ABS). The KN panel was used to draw a direct sample of to contain Asian and Hispanic individuals. Population persons aged eighteen to twenty-five from the four racial/ statistics were used to target census blocks with relatively ethnic groups, as well as to draw a sample of parents with large African American populations, again in combination offspring between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. From with other racial/ethnic flags in the database. Additionally, the latter group, the parent was asked to identify the race an “everybody else” sampling stratum was identified to and ethnicity of each person aged 15-25 in the household, ensure that the balance of the population had a non-zero, and if any individuals belonged to the target population, if minuscule, probability of selection. 48 39 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS The resulting sample was sent a letter (in both English and tive of the population of 15-25 year-olds in the United States Spanish) that invited eligible household members to partic- who identify as white, black, Asian, or Hispanic. All figures ipate in the survey, providing them with a web address for presented in this report have been weighted to be represen- the survey and a unique password. Non-responding house- tative of this population. holds were sent a follow-up invitation after about a week. Two weeks after that, professional interviewers attempted table 2. Race of Respondent by Sample Source and Completion Mode to contact the remaining non-responders by telephone to administer the screener and main survey. As seen in table 1, completed screeners were obtained for 14 percent of the sampled addresses, and among those individuals who were identified as eligible 47 percent completed the main survey. The first survey was completed online on February 9, 2011, the first telephone interview was administered on :7GJ6GN
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Source Direct KN Panel Parents KN Panel Sample Address-Based Total Mode Online Phone Online Phone White 491 118 242 29 0 0 880 Black 163 28 213 0 128 142 674 Asian 72 Hispanic 267 Total 993 Online Phone 0 30 0 259 213 574 84 304 25 75 37 792 230 789 54 462 392 2,920 through the ABS completed the survey online and 392 took For results based on the whole sample, the maximum mar- the survey over the phone, as noted in table 2. gin of error due to random sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. Thus table 1. Response Rates by Sampling Frame KN Panel Online Survey Address-Based KN Panel Phone Sample Supplement N sampled for screen 4,203 58,977 2,913 N complete screen 2,724 8,088 1,446 Screener survey completion rate 64.8 percent 13.7 percent 49.6 percent N qualified for main survey 1,881 1,824 670 N complete main survey 1,782 854 284 94.7 percent 46.8 percent 42.4 percent Main survey completion rate for inferences to the overall population of 15-25 year-olds, we expect that if our sampling procedures were repeated 20 times, a statistic estimated from the samples would fall within 3 percentage points either side of the “true” population parameter 19 times. For inferences to specific racial or ethnic groups, the confidence intervals are wider. This reflects both the smaller sample size when looking at particular groups and to the sampling techniques used to obtain the address-based sample of minority groups, especially Asian youth (a relatively small group in the overall population). The 95 percent confidence interval is plus or minus 4 percentage points for whites, 5 percentage points ;DG
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issues from bullying to bank fees,” Washington Post, January 23, 2012. 7. Scott, Shane, “Push Comes to Shove: Technology Helps Ignite Change (as in Tunisia) Except when It Bolsters Oppression (as in Iran),” New York Times, January 30, 2011.Jina Moore, “Social Media as Change Agent: Did Twitter and Facebook Really Build a Global Revolution?,” Christian Science Monitor, June 30, 2011. Jesse Lichtenstein, “Did Twitter Make Them Do It? The Battle over Social-Media Revolutions,” Slate, February 2, 2011, http:// www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2011/02/ did_twitter_make_them_do_it.html. 8. Bill Wasik, “#Riot: Self-Organized, Hyper-Networked Revolts —Coming to a City Near You,” Wired
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ɃɁɁɉ  41 | PARTICIPATORY POLITICS 13. For example, Lee Rainie and Aaron Smith, “Social Networking Sites and Politics,” Pew Internet and American Life Project, March 12, 2012, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Socialnetworking-and-politics.aspx; Aaron Smith, Kay Schlozman, Sidney Verba, and Henry Brady,“The Internet and Civic Engagement,” Pew Internet and American Life Project, September 1, 2009, http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/15--TheInternet-and-Civic-Engagement.aspx. 14. Although we sampled larger numbers of black, Asian, and Latino youth than would be required in a conventional sample, our weighting process ensures that all groups are considered in proportion to their representation in the population when we engage in all-group statistical analyses. Also, due to factors detailed in the technical appendix (see Appendix A), the 95 percent confidence interval for the Asian subsample (11 percent) is relatively large. This factor makes it harder to make precise inferences about this group. 15. Part of the difference is the result of lower rates of citizenship among Latino youth. However, when analysis is limited to U.S. citizens, Black youth are still much more likely to have voted in 2008 (55.4%) than are Hispanics (38.8%). In Current Population Survey: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/ socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2008/tables.html ɂɇ

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Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009). 17. Henry Jenkins, with Ravi Purushotma, Margaret Weigel, Katie Clinton, and Alice J. Robison, “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century,” The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007), http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/Confronting_the_Challenges.pdf; Ito et al., Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out. 18. Jenkins et al., “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture.” 19. Ito et al., Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out. 20. Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000). 21. Daniel McFarland and Reuben Thomas, “Bowling Young: How Youth Voluntary Associations Influence Adult Political Participation,” American Sociological Review
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69vantage of panel data buttresses this finding: Kahne, Lee, and Feezell found that interest-driven participation predicted civic and political engagement even with controls in place for a range of demographic variables and for prior levels of civic and political activity (Joseph Kahne, Nam-Jin Lee, and Jessica Timpany Feezell, “The Civic and Political Significance of Online Partcipatory Cultures among Youth Transitioning to Adulthood,” Journal of Information Technology and Politics [in press]). 22. See, for example, Steven E. Finkel,“Reciprocal Effects of Participation and Political Efficacy: A Panel Analysis,” American Journal of Political Science 29 (1985): 891–913. 23. S. Craig Watkins, “Digital Divide: Navigating the Digital Edge,” International Journal of Learning and Media 3, no. 2 (2012): 1–12; Gretchen Livingston, “Latinos and Digital Technology, 2010” (Washington DC: Pew Hispanic Center, 2011), http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=134. 24. Amanda Lenhart, “Who’s Not Online,” Pew Internet and American Life Project, Spetember 21, 2000, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2000/Whos-Not-Online.aspx. 25. See for example, “Network Neutrality, Universal Broadband, and Racial Justice,” The Center for Media Justice, http:// aboutscottsanders.zoomshare.com/files/Broadband_NNCMJlogo_1_.pdf. 26. Aaron Smith, “Home Broadband 2010,” Pew Internet and American Life Project, August 11, 2010, http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Home-Broadband-2010/Summary-ofFindings.aspx. 27 Kathryn Zuckuhr and Aaron Smith, “Digital Differences,” Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 10, 2012, http:// pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Digital-differences/Main-Report/Internet-adoption-over-time.aspx. 28. Jesse Washington, “For Minorities, New ‘Digital Divide’ Seen,” Pew Internet and American Life Project, January 10, 2011, http://www.pewinternet.org/Media-Mentions/2011/For-minorities-new-digital-divide-seen.aspx. 29. Susannah Fox, Kathryn Zickuhr, Aaron Smith, “Twitter and Status Updating, Fall 2009,” Pew Internet and American Life Project, October 21, 2009, http://www.pewinternet.org/ Reports/2009/17-Twitter-and-Status-Updating-Fall-2009/DataMemo.aspx; Matt Richtel, “Wasting Time Is New Divide in Digital Era,” The New York Times, May 29, 2012, http://www. nytimes.com/2012/05/30/us/new-digital-divide-seen-in-wasting-time-online.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y. 30. Washington,“For Minorities, New ‘Digital Divide’ Seen.” 31. U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, November 2008. “Table 2. Reported Voting and Registration, by Race, Hispanic Origin, Sex and Age for the United States: November 2008,” http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2008/tables.html. 32. The majority of young people, independent of race and ethnic identity (64 percent of Asian, 62 percent of Latino, 59 percent of black, and 57 percent of white youth), indicate that they are not engaging in any participatory acts of politics. 33. Joseph Kahne and Ellen Middaugh, “Democracy for Some: The Civic Opportunity Gap in High School” (working paper no. 59, CIRCLE, College Park, MD, 2008). 34. There was no significant relationship between education and participatory politics among Asian respondents. This model does not perform well for the Asian subsample. This is because age and education are highly collinear for this group (even more so than they are for the other racial and ethnic groups). Thus, within this subgroup, it is virtually impossible to disentangle the effects of age, school enrollment status, and educational attainment. 35. For example, Markus Prior, Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and Polarizes Elections (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007). 36. For example, Cass Sunstein, Republic.com 2.0 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007). 37. For example, Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000). 38. See Diana Mutz, Hearing the Other Side (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 62–69, for a review. 39. Jamie Bartlett and Carl Miller,“Truth, lies and the Internet: A report into young people’s digital fluency,” September 2011 (London: Demos). 40. Andrew Flanagin and Miriam Metzger, “Perceptions of Internet Information Credibility,” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 77, no. 3 (2000): 515–40. 41. Winnie Hu, “In New Jersey, a Civics Lesson in the Internet Age,” New York Times, April 27, 2010. 42. Jeffrey M. Jones, “Congressional Job Approval Ties Historic Low of 13 percent,” Gallup, May 23, 2012, http://www.gallup. com/poll/149009/congressional-job-approval-ties-historic-low. aspx?version=print. 43. “Kony 2012”. YouTube. Retrieved May 22, 2012. Over 90,000,000 views. “Kony 2012”. Vimeo. Retrieved May 22, 2012. Over 18,000,000 views. 44. Zimmerman, Arely. Forthcoming. Documenting DREAMs: New Media, Undocumented Youth and the Immigrant Rights Movement. Case Study Report Working Paper. Media Activism & Participatory Politics Project. http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/ content/mapp-media-activism-participatory-politics; Gamber Thompson, Liana. Forthcoming. Case Study Report Working Paper on the U.S. Liberty Movement. Media Activism & Participatory Politics Project. http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/content/ mapp-media-activism-participatory-politics. 45. Jeremy W. Peters, “With Video, Obama Looks to Expand Campaign’s Reach Through Social Media,” New York Times, March 14, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/us/politics/with-youtube-video-obama-looks-to-expand-social-mediareach.html. 46. Milner, H. (2010). The Internet generation: Engaged citizens or political dropouts (Medford, MA: Tufts University Press, 2010), p.5. 47. Jenkins et al., “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture.” 48. Knowledge Networks recruited panel members through random digit dialing prior to 2009, and currently uses an addressbased sampling method. Among other procedures to ensure the representativeness of the Internet panel, KN provides a laptop and free Internet access to households without home access to a computer connected to the Internet. For a detailed description of the probability-based methods used by Knowledge Networks to construct and maintain a representative Internet panel, see http://www.knowledgenetworks.com/knpanel/index.html. New Media and Youth Political Action | 42 Contact the YPP Network Joseph Kahne YPP Research Network Mills College School of Education 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland, CA 94613 email: ypp@mills.edu website: http://ypp.dmlcentral.net network contact: Sandra Mistretti email: civicsurvey@mills.edu