Media Use, Democratic Values, and Political Participation: Empirical Evidence from Taiwan

Abstract

This paper extends understanding of the relationship between media use and attitudes toward democratic values. We employ the two-step estimation approach to examine the relationship between media use and attitudes toward democratic values as well as consequential association with political participation. The empirical results show that media use to obtain news information is positively related to attitudes toward democratic values. The findings also note that attitudes toward democratic values are positively associated with engagement in politics. The results support the argument that media use is significant for shaping citizens' attitudes toward democratic values by providing information about public affairs and expanding citizens' understanding about democratic politics. As such, media use facilitates democratic socialization and leads to more involvement in political behaviors. IntroductionScholarly discussions on the relationship between media use and political participation have shifted their focus away from the effects of traditional media, such as television, radio, and newspapers, toward digital media, especially the Internet. The rapid development of information technology since the late 1990s, providing online information and network connections facilitated by the Internet, has largely changed the pattern and the relationship between media use and political participation. These changes have drawn the attention of scholars to analyze the effects of digital media use on several important issues. Previous studies show that media use has strong effects on civic culture and political engagements (Kittilson and Dalton, 2011;Gil de Zúñiga et al., 2012). It is in fact argued that media use enhances information acquisition, community formation, and the promotion of civic-oriented behaviors, as well as providing lowcost opportunities for people to become involved in public affairs and to express their personal opinions. The change in the range of available media may significantly alter people's perceptions about democratic values and their attitudes toward politics, and therefore change the pattern of people's political participation.

A contemporary social contract: An exploration of enabling factors influencing climate policy intractability in developed nations

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