Information and political engagement in America: The search for effects of information technology at the individual level
Information and political engagement in America: The search for effects of information technology at the individual level
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DOI：
10.1177/106591290105400103
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发表时间：
2001-03-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Bimber, B
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bimber, B
民主的某些方面似乎比其他方面对整个社会的政治信息的可用性更敏感。个人层面的政治参与在这方面构成了一个难题。信息的工具-定量概念是理性理论的核心，也存在于一些参与的行为理论中，这似乎与历史趋势相矛盾。我把新信息技术使政治信息的当代扩展成为可能视为一种自然实验。我测试的信息可用性和政治参与之间的关系，使用调查数据在1996年至1999年期间的互联网使用。这一测试与关于信息革命是否有益于参与的应用辩论有关。同时也揭示了相互争论的信息理论。我发现几乎没有关系存在;唯一的参与形式，这是明显连接到互联网的使用是捐钱。这一发现不支持信息的工具概念，而是赞同认知概念的心理和某些行为理论的政治参与。
Some aspects of democracy appear more sensitive than others to the availability throughout society of political information. Individual-level political engagement poses a puzzle in this regard. An instrumental-quantitative conception of information that is central to rational theories and is also found in some behavioral theories of participation appears contradicted by historical trends. I treat the contemporary expansion in political information made possible by new information technology as a form of natural experiment. I test for a relationship between information availability and political engagement using survey data about Internet use in the period 1996-99. This test is relevant to the applied debate over whether the information revolution will prove salutary for participation. and at the same time sheds light on contending theories of information. I find little relationship exists; the only form of participation which is demonstrably connected to Internet use is donating money This finding fails to support instrumental conceptions of information and instead endorses cognitive conceptions employed in psychological and certain behavioral theories of political engagement.