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

SES-0927291迈克尔B。Peyina Lin Katherine Stovel华盛顿大学社会团体和社会技术在美国高中生的生活中扮演着重要的角色。 许多年轻人也积极参与公民活动。他们加入社区组织，向慈善机构捐赠物品或时间，就公共和社区问题发表意见，或参与学生会。 然而，社会群体和技术如何构建公民参与和塑造社会边界还没有得到很好的理解。 在这项研究中，我们研究了群体和友谊结构如何影响学生的公民参与，以及社会技术（包括社交网络网站，如Facebook和MySpace，即时消息和移动的设备）是如何用于友谊和公民团体。研究问题是：社会技术在多大程度上再现了友谊团体结构和公民参与之间的相互关系？先前的研究发现，高中生的朋友和他们的公民态度之间的联系很弱，但这项工作忽略了青少年交友的社会背景。 在学校里，社会群体（可以通过“运动员”或“受欢迎者”等声誉标签识别）将学生嵌入一个社会地位等级制度中，这个等级制度构建了课外机会（例如，可以基于受欢迎程度、表现或种族来系统地选择学生）。 从社会结构理论，以及高中文化，青少年参考群体，和青少年的社会技术的使用的研究，这一混合方法的研究评估具体的假设：（a）学校为基础的社会团体的地位和学生的公民活动的选择之间的相互关系，（B）友谊和公民参与之间的重叠，（a）学校为基础的社会团体的地位和学生的公民活动的选择之间的相互关系。以及c）社会技术如何影响（a）和（B）中观察到的模式。 由于社交网络网站在朋友之间创造了一种不可能的认识水平，一些人预计这些技术具有很大的潜力，可以使青年参与更多的公民活动。我们阐述了为什么这样一个简单的命题可能不成立，以及社会技术缓和友谊结构和公民参与之间的联系的条件。从美国西北部的两所高中获得的三个数据集（问卷调查，观察和访谈）将被合成以测试假设并探索新的命题。调查问卷收集适合评估感兴趣的变量之间的相互关系的数据，而观察和访谈将告知学生如何定义，跨越和协商离线和在线的社会群体边界。更广泛的影响以前的研究表明，积极参与公民活动的青年更有可能成为积极参与公民活动的成年人。因此，鼓励高中青年的公民参与对维护公民社会很重要，特别是现在，奥巴马总统要求所有公民参与他们的社区。然而，并非所有青年都有同样的机会参与公民活动。这项研究将帮助我们了解年轻人如何使用社交技术与他人互动。研究结果将表明，教育机构和技术设计者如何利用这些模式，以增加各种青年公民参与的机会。

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.