Sociale media en de representatieve democratie

Stimulating citizenship or expanding entertainment? The effect of Facebook on adolescent participation

“…Since engagement plays such a key role in debates about democracy, it is not surprising that for more than a decade, concerns have been raised about the declining participatory trends observed among young people in advanced industrial societies. These concerns, which stress that young people are becoming more disenchanted with the traditional institutions of representative government (Milner, 2013), have been triggered by a number of trends, including young citizens’ general detachment from the electoral arena, low rates of electoral turnout, the erosion of membership in voluntary associations and evidence of alienation from and apathy (or even hatred) towards politics (Hay, 2007; Putnam, 2000; Wattenberg, 2008).…”

The continuous expansion of citizen participation: a new taxonomy

“…Although the importance of such acts for democratic politics is challenged (Gladwell, 2010; Milner, 2013; Morozov, 2013), arguments by various scholars (see Bang and Sørensen, 1999; Li and Marsh, 2008) that concepts related to new forms of participation are relevant and should be used more extensively, have been insufficiently considered. Instruments for measuring newer forms of participation remain largely absent from large-scale surveys, which persistently identify and measure political participation only through well established, but rather conventional participation repertoires.…”

“…The consequences of this lack of integration of new forms of participation, and the need for more precise and analytical conceptualizations that overcome the problems of narrow, existing ones focussing mainly on electoral and protest-related acts, is especially evident in debates about declining vs. changing political engagement among mass publics and its consequences for democracy. While some scholars consider the decline of voter turnout, party membership or demonstrating as signals for a deterioration of public engagement in many democracies (Pharr and Putnam, 2000; Milner, 2013), others are taking a more critical stance towards this view (O’Toole et al ., 2003; Marsh and Akram, 2015). The continuous rise of new forms of participation, they argue, can be seen as sign of a vibrant democracy, that signals a ‘second transformation’ (Cain et al ., 2003), whereby the meaning of politically engaged citizenship and the concept of participation is changing (Dalton, 2008a; van Deth, 2014; Marsh and Akram, 2015).…”