In 2000, Harvard Political Scientist Robert Putnam famously argued in Bowling Alone that the decline of bowling leagues in America signified a deterioration of civic culture. For Putnam, bowling leagues were a sign of social capital, or the connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.
What is the state of social capital today? Does the rise of DIY and participatory media make up for the loss of bowling leagues? As part of today’s Annenberg Center for Communication weekly seminar, research fellow Corinna di Gennaro presented survey finding from her work with the Oxford Internet Institute (part of USC’s World Internet Project). The data showed, among other things, that youth between 14-18 are more likely to make friends online but that they are less likely to engage politically both on- and off-line, than members of other age groups.
What is considered political engagement? This is a central question for researcher trying to understand the role of digital communication tools and networks in society. For the purpose of the Oxford Institute study, which focused on responses from nearly 2000 participants in England, Scotland and Wales, political participation meant grown-up politics like voting and signing petitions.
But what about student elections? WOW strategizing? Rating your professor online? In countries where the voting age is 18 (like the US and Great Britain) can we really characterize youth engagement by the degree to which they participate in a system from which they are legally excluded? (This issue was raised during the seminar by Digital Kids researcher Mimi Ito). Maybe traditional political structures and behaviors should not be the litmus test, but in the absence of a clear understanding of how youth engagement translates into grow-up political engagement Corinna’s research gives us some clues about the link between online participation and social capital.
You can read more about Oxford Internet Surveys here. And more on youth and digital engagement here.
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I enjoyed this talk a lot and hope I didn’t sound too grouchy in my comments. This issue of how we evaluate youth participation in adult society is one of the issues that I can get worked up about.
Corinna’s graphs provided pretty clear evidence of the importance in age in determining forms of online participation. Fascinating stuff. So the question is how we interpret that.
Modern societies institutionalize young people in specific ways and have a lot of barriers to youth participation in adult society - we are (I think unfairly) not considered full social beings until 18 or 21. So I don’t think we should be surprised that social and political participation is different for the under 18s. I think the longitudinal questions about what Corinna described as the question of lifecyle versus cohort effects are absolutely crucial in trying to understand these issues. What are the forms of participation for youth that lead to specific forms of participation in adult society? Some of these issues also came up in the discussion after Doug Thomas and Chris Swain’s (videocast here) presentation of their redistricting game
Joe Kahne’s work at the Institute for Civic Leadership is trying to answer some of these questions, and we have been partnering with them to get some of the categories emerging from our ethnography embedded in a national longitudinal survey of high school students.
It is great to see more research engaging with these issues and tracking what is happening with these young people as they transition to adulthood.
Call For Papers: Social Capital
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Dr Prasenjit Maiti is a political sociologist. He taught at the Department of Political Science of the University of Burdwan before joining the Development Sector. He was on secondment as a Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Federalism of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland . His first book focused on the theories of good governance while his second work dealt with development discourses. His present research interests include poverty, human rights, social capital and globalization.
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You are requested to kindly contribute your individual and / or joint papers to this book series and oblige. Previously published papers can also be reprinted along with their earlier publication history provided there are no Copyright restrictions to do so.
Best Practices and Lessons Learnt (that may be replicated elsewhere) from Research Projects in these areas may be adequately reflected in your papers. We are interested in papers that deal with broad theoretical issues and general empirical concerns rather than case studies / area studies that are limited to contextual experiences.
The decision of the Editors with regard to acceptance of papers shall be final. Please send your papers and Brief Biography (following the Model Biography appended) by e-mail to the Publisher / Editor Dr KR Gupta at as MS Word attachments as soon as convenient.
Kindly also send your complete mailing address along with your electronic submissions to ensure timely delivery of your complimentary copies. You should include an Executive Summary, Key Words and End Notes / References in your papers.
The length of papers is not limited. Please circulate this Call for Papers among professional colleagues and research associates who may be kindly interested to send their academic submissions to this multi-volume book series. There is no stipulated deadline but your papers should be sent at an early date to the Publisher to ensure their inclusion in Volume One.
Each contributor shall receive a complimentary author copy from the Publisher while joint authors shall receive a single copy for the First Author. All publication-related inquiries should be addressed to Dr Gupta.
Co-authors can obtain copies of the Volumes at 50% discount on the printed price of the Volumes and free packing and postage by Registered Post / Courier anywhere in India against advance payment by Bank Draft payable at New Delhi (INDIA) in favour of M/s ATLANTIC PUBLISHERS AND DISTRIBUTORS (P) LTD. Postage would have to be borne by the person ordering the books if these are to be sent outside India. You may visit the Publisher’s website at for any further information.
Model Biography
Dr Prasenjit Maiti is a political sociologist. He taught at the Department of Political Science of the University of Burdwan before joining the Development Sector. He was on secondment as a Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Federalism of the University of Fribourg . His first book focused on the problems of governance while his second book dealt with development discourses.