Journals / TESAM Akademi Dergisi / 2018 / Cilt: 5 Sayı: 2

Low-Cost Alternative Political Participation: Is Political Apathy Among The Post-90s Young Generation Myth or Real?

DÜŞÜK MALİYETLİ ALTERNATİF SİYASAL KATILIM BİÇİMİ: ‘90 SONRASI GENÇ KUŞAĞIN SİYASAL KAYITSIZLIĞI MİT Mİ GERÇEK Mİ?

Serdar Ünal(AYDIN ADNAN MENDERES ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0003-2755-9456
Pages
249–296
Publication Date
2018-07-30
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

As young people maintain their concerns about social problems, they participate in the easiest and least costly voting activity and are turning to digital network-based low-cost participation as a new form of participation that they can easily express themselves and feel strong.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:In the study, it was tried to question the argument that young people are politically more uninterested or apathetic than the previous generations through the sample which represents the post-90s generation, which are studying at higher education level.
📊
Key Findings & Data:In this respect, with reference to quantitative and qualitative field data, it was aimed to determine the tendency of young people’s to offline traditional political participation and to new low-cost or easier digital participation opportunities.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:As young people maintain their concerns about social problems, they participate in the easiest and least costly voting activity and are turning to digital network-based low-cost participation as a new form of participation that they can easily express themselves and feel strong.
🔬Design:Survey & Empirical Study
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Yükseköğretim Gençliği · Çevrimiçi ve Çevrimdışı Siyasal Katılım · Siyasal Sinizm

Abstract

In the study, it was tried to question the argument that young people are politically more uninterested or apathetic than the previous generations through the sample which represents the post-90s generation, which are studying at higher education level. In this respect, with reference to quantitative and qualitative field data, it was aimed to determine the tendency of young people’s to offline traditional political participation and to new low-cost or easier digital participation opportunities. In addition, the extent to which online participation can substitute traditional forms of participation has been tried to relate to the concepts of political interest, apathy, cynicism and slacktivism. According to the survey data, young people’s political cynicism or low expectation from mainstream political practices distract them from the more costly traditional forms of participation. However, this does not mean they are politically uninterested. As young people maintain their concerns about social problems, they participate in the easiest and least costly voting activity and are turning to digital network-based low-cost participation as a new form of participation that they can easily express themselves and feel strong.

Özet

Çalışmada yükseköğretim düzeyinde eğitim gören ‘90 sonrası kuşağı temsil eden örneklem üzerinden gençlerin kendilerinden önceki kuşaklara göre siyasal anlamda daha kayıtsız ya da ilgisiz oldukları argümanı sorgulanmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu yönde, çalışmada nicel ve nitel düzeyde elde edilen saha verileri temelinde gençlerin çevrimdışı geleneksel siyasal katılım eğilimleri ve maliyeti daha düşük ya da kolay olan yeni çevrimiçi dijital katılım olanaklarına yönelik eğilimlerini tespit etmek hedeflenmiştir. Ayrıca, çevrimiçi katılımın geleneksel katılım biçimlerini ne ölçüde ikame edebildiği siyasal ilgi, kayıtsızlık, sinizm ve slaktivizm kavramlarıyla ilişkilendirilmeye çalışılmıştır. Araştırmanın verilerine göre, gençlerin siyasal sinik tutumları veya ana akım politik uygulamalardan beklentilerinin düşük olması onları maliyeti yüksek olan geleneksel katılım biçimlerinden uzaklaştırmaktadır. Ancak, bu onların siyasal kayıtsızlıkları anlamına gelmemektedir. Gençler toplumsal sorunlara yönelik kaygılarını muhafaza ettikleri için kolay ve maliyeti düşük olan oy verme etkinliğine katılmakta, kendilerini kolayca ifade edebildikleri ve güçlü hissettikleri yeni katılım biçimi olarak dijital ağ temelli maliyeti düşük katılım etkinliklerine yönelmektedirler.  

🔖

Cite This Article

Ünal, S. (2018). Low-Cost Alternative Political Participation: Is Political Apathy Among The Post-90s Young Generation Myth or Real?. TESAM Akademi Dergisi, Cilt: 5 Sayı: 2, 249–296. https://doi.org/10.30626/tesamakademi.456032

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (91)

  1. Agger, R. E., Goldstein, M. N. and Pearl, S. A. (1961). Political cynicism: Measurement and meaning. The Journal of Politics, 23(3), 477-506. https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2127102
  2. Amenta, E., Caren, N., Chiarello, E. and Su, Y. (2012). The political consequences of social movements. Annual Review of Sociology, (36), 287–307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-120029
  3. Barash, V., Ducheneaut, N., Isaacs, E. and Bellotti, V. (2010). Faceplant: Impression (mis)management in Facebook status updates. Proceedings of the Fourth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, Washington, DC.
  4. Bartels, L. M. and Jackman, S. (2014). A generational model of political learning. Electoral Studies, (33), 7–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2013.06.004
  5. Beck, U. and Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2003) Individualization. Thousand Oaks, New Delhi, Sage Publications, Londra.
  6. Benedicto, J. (2008). Young people and politics: Disconnected, sceptical, an alternative, or all of it at the same time. Revista de Estudios de Juventud, (81), 13-27.
  7. Bennett, L. W. (2012). The personalization of politics: Political identity, social media, and changing patterns of participation. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 644(1), 20–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002716212451428
  8. Bode, L. (2017). Gateway political behaviors: The frequency and consequences of low-cost political engagement on social media. Social Media+Society, 3(4), 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2056305117743349
  9. Bode, L., Vraga, E. K., Borah, P. and Shah, D. V. (2014). A new space for political behavior: Political social networking and its democratic consequences. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 19(3), 414–429. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12048
  10. Borge, R. and Cardenal, A. S. (2011). Surfing the net: A pathway to participation for the politically uninterested? Policy & Internet, 3(1), 1-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.2202/1944-2866.1099
  11. Boulianne, S. (2015). Social media use and participation: A metaanalysis of current research. Information, Communication, and Society, 18(5), 524–538. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1008542
  12. Bozan, A. (2013). Politikleşme ve siyasal katılımı etkileyen faktörler Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi Gençlik Kolları örneği. Alternatif Politika, 5(2), 153-173.
  13. Calenda, D. and Meijer, A. (2009). Young people, the internet and political participation. Information, Communication & Society, 12(6): 879-898. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691180802158508
  14. Cammaerts, B., Bruter, M., Banaji, S., Harrison, S. and Anstead, N. (2014). The myth of youth apathy: Young Europeans’ critical attitudes toward democratic life. American Behavioral Scientist, 58(5), 645-664. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764213515992
  15. Cappella, J.N. (2002). Cynicism and social trust in the new media environment. Journal of Communication, 52(1),29-241. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2002.tb02541.x
  16. Castells, M. (2001). The internet galaxy. reflections on the internet, business and society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  17. Citrin, J. and Elkins, D.G. (1975). Political disaffection among university students: Concepts, measurement and causes. In J.P.
  18. Robinson, P.R. Shaver and L.S. Wrightsman (Eds.) Measurement of Political Attitudes (pp. 503-505). New York: Academic Press.
  19. Christensen, H. S. (2011). Political activities on the internet: Slacktivism or political participation by other means? First Monday, 16(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v16i2.3336
  20. Dalton, R.J. (2004). Democratic challenges, democratic choices; The erosion of political support in advanced industrial democracies. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  21. Dekker, H. and Meijerink, E. (2012). Political cynicism: Conceptualization, operationalization, and explanation. Politics, Culture and Society, 3(1-2), 33-48.
  22. Earl, J. and Kimport, K. (2011). Digitally enabled social change: Activism in the internet age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Earl, J. (2014). Something old and something new: A comment on “New media, new civics”. Policy and Internet, 6(2), 169-175. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/1944-2866.POI357
  23. Easton, D. (1975). A re-assessment of the concept of political support. British Journal of Political Science, 5(4), 435-457. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0007123400008309
  24. Erber, R. and Lau, R.R. (1990). Political cynicism revisited: An information-processing reconciliation of policy-based and incumbency-based interpretations of changes in trust in government. American Journal of Political Science, 34(1), 236-253. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2111517
  25. Finifter, A.W. (1970). Dimensions of political alienation. American Political Science Review, 64(2), 389-410. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1953840
  26. Fu, H., Jalette, G., Miller, M. J., and Mou, Y. (2011). Reconsidering political cynicism and political involvement: A test of antecedents. American Communication Journal, 13(2), 44-61.
  27. Gibson, R., and Cantijoch, M. (2013). Conceptualizing and measuring participation in the age of the internet: Is online political engagement really different to offline? The Journal of Politics, 75(3), 701-716. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022381613000431
  28. Gil de Zúñiga, H., Jung, N. and Valenzuela, S. (2012). Social media use for news and individuals’ social capital, civic engagement and political participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17(3), 319–336. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01574.x
  29. Gil de Zúñiga, H.; Copeland, L., & Bimber, B. (2014). Political consumerism: Civic engagement and the social media connection. New Media & Society, 16(3), 488-506. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461444813487960
  30. Gil de Zúñiga, H., Molyneux, L., & Zheng, P. (2014). Social media, political expression, and political participation: Panel analysis of lagged and concurrent relationships. Journal of Communication, 64(4), 612-634. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12103
  31. Göktaş, P. (2015). Siyasi liderlerden beklenen liderlik ve iletişim tarzları: Y kuşağı üzerine bir araştırma (Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi, Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi SBE, Isparta.)
  32. Griffin, C. (2014). Gençlerin siyasi katılımı hakkındaki varsayımlara meydan okumak: Büyük Britanya’dan eleştirel fikirler. (Der. Yılmaz, V. ve Bahçeci, D.), İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, Şebeke Gençlerin Katılımı Projesi Kitapları – No: (6), 149-159.
  33. Habitat (2017). Türkiye’de gençliğin iyi olma hali raporu. Habitat Derneği, www.habitatdernegi.org, İstanbul.
  34. Halupka, M. (2014). Clicktivism: A systematic heuristic. Policy & Internet, 6(2), 115–132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/1944-2866.POI355 Harris, A., Wyn, J. & Younes, S. (2010). Beyond apathetic or activist youth: ‘Ordinary’ young people and contemporary forms of participation. Young, 18(1), 9-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/110330880901800103
  35. Harris, A. (2009). Young people’s politics and citizenship. In Andy Furlong (ed.) Handbook of Youth and Young Adulthood (pp. 301–306). London: Routledge.
  36. Henn, M. Weinstein, M. and Wring, D. (2002) A generation apart? Youth and political participation in Britain. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 4(2), 167-192. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-856X.t01-1-00001
  37. Henn, M., Weinstein, M. and Hodgkinson, S. (2007). Social capital and political participation: Understanding the dynamics of young people’s political disengagement in contemporary Britain. Social Policy and Society, 6(4), 467-479. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1474746407003818
  38. Hülür, B. (2015). Siyasal kayıtsızlık ve medya. S B A R D, 26(2), 43-60.
  39. Jones, K. (2005). Politicians and political cynicism: more or less?. Australasian Parliamentary Review, 20(2), 116-129.
  40. Jung, N., Kim, Y. and Gil de Zúñiga, H. (2011). The mediating role of knowledge and efficacy in the effects of communication on political participation. Mass Communication and Society, 14(4), 407-430. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2010.496135
  41. Kaase, M. and Marsh, A. (1979). Political action repertory: Changes over time and a new typology. In Barns, S. and Kaase, M., (Eds.) Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies (pp. 137–166). Beverly Hills: Sage.
  42. Karpf, D. (2016). Analytic activism: Digital listening and the new political strategy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  43. Kenski, K. and Stroud, N.J. (2006). Connections between internet use and political efficancy, knowledge and participation. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 50(2),173-192. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem5002_1
  44. Kim, Y., Chen, H. T. and Gil de Zuniga, H. (2013). Stumbling upon news on the internet: Effects of incidental news exposure and relative entertainment use on political engagement. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(6), 2607-2614. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.06.005
  45. Kristofferson, K., White, K. and Peloza, J. (2013). The nature of slacktivism: How the social observability of an initial act of token support affects subsequent prosocial action. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(6), 1149–1166. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/674137
  46. Kurtaran Y., Nemutlu G. and Yentürk N. (2012). Gençler hakkında, gençlik için, gençlerle. Yentürk N.; Kurtaran Y.; Nemutlu G. (der.) Türkiye’de Gençlik Çalışması ve Politikaları kitabı içinde (ss. 3-20). (İkinci Baskı). İstanbul Bilgi Üni. Yay.
  47. Kushin, M. J. and Kitchener, K. (2009). Getting political on social network sites: Exploring online political discourse on Facebook, First Monday, 14(11). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v14i11.2645
  48. Lane, D. S., Kim, D. H., Lee, S. S., Weeks, B. E. and Kwak, N. (2017). From online disagreement to offline action: How diverse motivations for using social media can increase political information sharing and catalyze offline political participation. Social Media+Society, 3(3), 1-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2056305117716274
  49. Lee, Y. H. & Hsieh, G. (2013). Does slacktivism hurt activism?: The affects of moral balancing and consistency in online activism. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 811-820). ACM.
  50. Leyva, R. (2016). Exploring UK millennials’ social media consumption patterns and participation in elections, activism, and “Slacktivism.” Social Science Computer Review, 35(4), 462–479. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0894439316655738
  51. Loader, B. D., Vromen, A. and Xenos, M. A. (2014). The networked young citizen: Social media, political participation and civic engagement. Information, Communication & Society, 17(2), 143-150. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2013.871571
  52. Lüküslü, D. (2008). Günümüz Türkiye gençliği: Ne kayıp bir kuşak ne de ülkenin aydınlık geleceği. Yentürk N.; Kurtaran Y.; Nemutlu G. (Ed.) Türkiye’de Gençlik Çalışması ve Politikaları (ss. 287-297). (İkinci Baskı). İstanbul Bilgi Üni. Yay.
  53. Lüküslü, D. (2015). Türkiye’de “Gençlik miti” 1980 sonrası Türkiye gençliği. (4. Baskı). İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
  54. Manning, N. (2013). ‘I mainly look at things on an issue by issue basis’: Reflexivity and phronêsis in young people’s political engagements. Journal of Youth Studies, 16(1), 17-33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2012.693586
  55. Margetts, H., John, P., Hale, S. and Yasseri, T. (2016). Political turbulence: How social media shape collective action. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  56. Melo, D. F. and Stockemer, D. (2014). Age and political participation in Germany, France and the UK: A comparative analysis. Comparative European Politics, 12(1), 33-53.
  57. Mindich, D. T. Z. (2005). Tuned out. Why Americans under 40 don’t follow the news, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  58. Morozov, E. (2009). From slacktivism to activism. Foreign Policy. http://foreignpolicy.com/2009/09/05/from-slacktivism-to-activism/
  59. Nemutlu, G. (2012) Türkiye sivil alanında gençlik çalışmasının tarihsel gelişimi, Yentürk N.; Kurtaran Y.; Nemutlu G., (Ed.) Türkiye’de Gençlik Çalışması ve Politikaları kitabı içinde (ss. 167-196). (İkinci Baskı). İstanbul Bilgi Üni. Yay.
  60. Neuman, W. R. (1991). The future of the mass audience. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  61. Norris, P. (2002). Democratic Phoenix: Political activism worldwide. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  62. Olsen, M. E. (1969). Two categories of political alienation. Social Affairs, 47(3), 288-299.
  63. Opdycke, K., Segura, P. & Vasquez, A. M. (2013). The effects of political cynicism, political information efficacy and media consumption on intended voter participation. Colloquy, 9, 75-97.
  64. O’Toole, T. (2004). Explaining young people’s non-participation: Towards a fuller understanding of the political. European Consortium of Political Research, (pp. 1-21). Uppsala, Sweden.
  65. Pinkleton, B. E. and Austin, E. W. (2004). Media perceptions and public affairs apathy in the politically inexperienced. Mass Communication and Society, 7(3), 319-337. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327825mcs0703_4
  66. Prior, M. (2010). You’ve either got it or you don’t? The stability of political interest over the life cycle. Journal of Politics, 72(3), 747–766. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022381610000149
  67. Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone. The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  68. Rainie, L. and Wellman, B. (2012). Networked: The new social operating system. Cambridge: MIT Press.
  69. SEKAM (2013) Türkiye’de gençlik: Gençliğin özellikleri sorunları, kimlikleri ve beklentileri. İstanbul: SEKAM Yayınları.
  70. Siurala, L. (2000). Changing forms of youth participation. New forms of youth participation, Biel: Switzerland, www.Coe.Fr/Youth/Research/Participation
  71. Stockemer, D. and Carbonetti, B. (2010). Why do richer democracies survive? The non-effect of unconventional political participation. The Social Science Journal, 47(2), 237–251. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2009.12.005
  72. Schyns, P., Nuus, M. and Dekker, H. (2004). A conceptual and empirical evaluation of political cynicism. Paper for the Politicologenetmaal, Antwerp, May, 27-28.
  73. Schwartz, S.K. (1975). Patterns of cynicism. In D.C. Schwartz and S.K. Schwartz (eds.), New directions in political socialization (pp. 188-202). New York.
  74. Tanyaş, B. (2015). Gençler ve politik katılım: Gezi Parkı eylemleri’nde ‘Apolitik’ nesil. Eleştirel Psikoloji Bülteni, (6), 25-50.
  75. Theocharis, Y. (2015). The conceptualization of digitally networked participation. Social Media+Society, 1(2), 1-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2056305115610140
  76. Tufekci, Z. (2014). The medium and the movement: Digital tools, social movement politics, and the end of the free rider problem. Policy & Internet, 6(2), 202–208. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/19442866.POI362
  77. TÜSES (2009). Gençlik tartışıyor: Siyasete katılım, sorunlar ve çözüm önerileri, Cemil Boyraz (der.), TÜSES (Türkiye Sosyal Ekonomik Siyasal Araştırmalar Vakfı), İstanbul.
  78. Ünal, S. (2017). Ağ toplumunun genç yurttaşları: Dijital sosyal ortamların siyasal temelde kullanımına yönelik karşıt yaklaşımlar. International Journal of Human Sciences, 14(3), 2510-2540. http://dx.doi.org/10.14687/jhs.v14i3.4672
  79. Vaccari, C., Valeriani, A., Barbera, P., Bonneau, R., Jost, J. T., Nagler, J. and Tucker, J. A. (2015). Political expression and action on social media: Exploring the relationship between lower- and higher-threshold political activities among twitter users in Italy. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 20(2), 221–239. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12108
  80. Van Biezen, I., Mair, P. and Poguntke, T. (2012). Going, going,…gone? The decline of party membership in contemporary Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 51(1), 24–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2011.01995.x
  81. Van Deth, J. W. (2014). A conceptual map of political participation. Acta Politica, 49(3), 349-367.
  82. Valenzuela, S., Park, N. and Kee, K. F. (2009). Is there social capital in a social network site?: Facebook use and college students’ life satisfaction, trust, and participation. Journal of Computermediated Communication, 14(4), 875–901. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01474.x
  83. Valenzuela, S., Kim, Y. and Gil, de Zúñiga, H. (2012). Social networks that matter: Exploring the role of political discussion for online political. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 24(2), 163–184. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edr037
  84. Verba, S., Schlozman, K. and Brady, H. (1995). Voice and equality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  85. Verba, S. and Nie, N. (1972). Participation in America: Political democracy and social equality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Wojcieszak, M. E. and Mutz, D. C. (2009). Online groups and political discourse: Do online discussion spaces facilitate exposure to political disagreement? Journal of Communication, 59(1), 40–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.01403.x
  86. Xenos, M., Vromen, A. & Loader, B. D. (2014). The great equalizer? Patterns of social media use and youth political engagement in three advanced democracies. Information, Communication & Society, 17(2), 151-167. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2013.871318
  87. Yamamoto, M. (2014). Social media and mobiles as political mobilization forces for young adults: Examining the moderating role of online political expression in political participation. New Media and Society, 17(6), 880-898. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461444813518390
  88. Yang, H. C. and DeHart, J. L. (2016). Social media use and online political participation among college students during the US election 2012. Social Media & Society, 2(1), 1–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2056305115623802
  89. Yılmaz, V. and Oy, B. (2014) Türkiye’de gençler ve siyasi katılım: Sosyo-ekonomik statü fark yaratıyor mu? İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, Şebeke Gençlerin Katılımı Projesi Kitapları – No: 5
  90. Zuckerman, E. (2014). New media, new civics? Policy & Internet, 6(2), 151–168. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/1944-2866.POI360 Zukin, C., Keeter, S., Andolina, M., Jenkins, K. & Delli-Carpini, M. X. (2006). A New engagement? Political participation, civic life, and the changing American citizen. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  91. TÜSES (2009). Gençlik tartışıyor: Siyasete katılım, sorunlar ve çözüm önerileri, Cemil Boyraz (der.), TÜSES (Türkiye Sosyal Ekonomik Siyasal Araştırmalar Vakfı), İstanbul.