Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Technologies, Social Groups, and Civic Participation of High School Students

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SES-0927291Michael B. EisenbergPeyina LinKatherine StovelUniversity of Washington Social groups and social technologies both play important roles in the lives of American high school youth. Many young people are also civically active ? they join community organizations, donate goods or time to charities, speak out on public and community issues, or become involved in student government. However, how social groups and technologies structure civic participation and shape social boundaries is not well understood. In this study, we examine how group and friendship structures affect students'civic participation; and how social technologies (including social network websites like Facebook and MySpace, instant messaging, and mobile devices) are used in friendship and civic groups. The research question is: To what extent do social technologies reproduce the interrelationships between friendship group structures and civic participation? Previous research has found a weak association between high school students' friends and their civic attitudes, yet this work has ignored the social context in which adolescents make friends. Within schools, social groups (recognizable via reputational labels such as "jocks" or "populars") embed students in a social status hierarchy that structures extracurricular opportunities (e.g., students may be systematically selected based on popularity, performance, or ethnicity). Drawing from social structural theory, as well as research on high school culture, adolescent reference groups, and adolescents' use of social technologies, this mixed methods study evaluates specific hypotheses about (a) the interrelationships between the status of school-based social groups and students' choice of civic activities; (b) the overlap between friendships and civic participation; and c) how social technologies affect the patterns observed in (a) and (b). Because social network websites create a level of awareness between friends not otherwise possible, some expect that these technologies have great potential to socialize youth into greater civic activity. We elaborate why such a simplistic proposition may not hold and the conditions in which social technologies moderate the link between friendship structures and civic participation. Three data sets (questionnaire, observations, and interviews), obtained from two high schools in the Northwestern US will be synthesized to test the hypotheses and explore new propositions. The questionnaire gathers data suitable for evaluating interrelations between the variables of interest, while the observations and interviews will inform how students define, cross, and negotiate social group boundaries both offline and online. Broader ImpactsPrevious research has shown that civically active youth are more likely to be civically active adults. Thus, encouraging civic participation by high school youth is important to maintaining civil society, particularly now, when president Obama has challenged all citizens to get involved in their community. Yet, not all young people face the same opportunities to engage in civic activities. This study will help us understand how young people use social technologies to interact with one another. Results will suggest how educational institutions and technology designers can utilize these patterns in order to enhance opportunities for civic participation by diverse youth.