Over the rainbow: Sexual minorities' bonding and bridging social capital and civic engagement

This study examines sexual minorities' participation in civic engagement using the theory of social capital. The analysis of the data from a US national survey shows that sexual minorities' bonding capital within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community is positively associated with their civic engagement on LGBT issues, while it is negatively associated with their participation in activities addressing other social issues. Sexual minorities' bridging social capital as generalized trust is positively associated with their civic engagement for non-LGBT issues, but it has no statistically significant relationship with their civic engagement on LGBT issues. Overall, the findings reveal that sexual minorities' civic engagement beyond LGBT activism is closely related to their generalized trust and reciprocity in society. These findings suggest that an organizational culture of non-discrimination and equity will help create more diverse and inclusive philanthropy.     

How social ties contribute to collective actions on social media: A social capital approach

In public relations research into civic engagement, the influence of social ties on the individual level has not been adequately studied from a social capital perspective. To fill this gap, this study conducts a one-factor between subjects experiment to examine the difference, if any, between the social influence of strong ties and of weak ties on individuals’ participation intentions in regard to collective actions. This study postulates collective efficacy as a factor possibly associated with the intention to participate in collective actions. The study findings suggest that advocacy about certain social causes, such as veterans affairs, have globally positive effects on publics’ civic engagement intentions, regardless of the norms of the social network with which the individuals are connected. Furthermore, collective efficacy was found to be positively associated with participation in collective actions. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Decline of Orthodoxy among the Amish

Abstract

For the past decade, the study of social capital and civic involvement has been of primary importance to sociologists and other social scientists. Concern over perceived declines in civic participation has troubled many, since such participation has been linked to a variety of positive outcomes both for the individual and the broader social groups in which the person takes part. To date, most research on the factors influencing participation has focused on structural or community-level measures, such as state structure, increased suburbanization and changes in community institutional structures. We contribute to this literature by highlighting the important role of the family as a context for the transmission of civic skills, involvement, and knowledge between parent and child. This study draws upon theoretical and conceptual insights from the literature on social capital and civic involvement, as well as from earlier work on inter-generational status attainment and political socialization. We build an explanatory framework that traces the inter-generational transmission of civic involvement, skills, and action. We test this framework using data from the 1996 National Household Education Survey. Results indicate that both adult political and school involvement have a positive impact upon the level of child political interest, and that adult community and school involvement have a positive impact upon the level of child civic activities.     

Changes in small town social capital and civic engagement

Small towns are often depicted as places with many interpersonal relationships and generalized trust, or high social capital. Social capital is a resource which towns can use to solve problems and improve the local quality of life. In this paper, I determined if social capital and civic engagements have declined in small towns in the U.S. Midwest as has happened more generally and tested likely explanations for the change. Quantitative analyses of data from the U.S. Census, other secondary sources, and a longitudinal study of residents of 99 small towns were conducted. Findings revealed that social capital has declined, but one type of civic engagement improved. Towns in counties with more small farms in 1990 had more bonding social capital and civic engagement in 2004 than other towns when other factors were controlled. The proportion of local businesses had no impact on civic engagement and was negatively associated with one kind of social capital. Mixed findings about how income impacted social capital and civic engagement indicated a complex relationship. The retirement of the so called “civic generation” had minimal impact on social capital and civic engagement.     

Rural empowerment through the arts: The role of the arts in civic and social participation in the Mid West region of Western Australia

To combat social and economic inequity in rural Australia, governments, communities, and policy makers are seeking ways to empower local residents to find local solutions to local problems. Through an exploratory review of the literature and semi-structured interviews conducted in the Mid West of Western Australia, this research examined the role of the arts as a vehicle for increased social and civic participation to build resilience to inequity. For those interviewed, the arts were observed to strengthen sense of place and community identity. The arts were utilised as a means for encouraging and enabling civic participation, as well as providing opportunities for social interaction and networking, which are essential for the health and wellbeing of rural and remote residents. While providing a context for civic and social participation, the arts were viewed by several of those interviewed as a means for facilitating understanding between divisive and disparate groups. Yet, it was noted that the execution and drive for arts activities and events was dependent on the availability of human capital, but also on support from governance and funding authorities to build capacity to sustain these activities. If, as suggested by this exploratory review, the arts are a vehicle for building resilience in rural Australia, then further research is needed to support these claims to enable continued and future support for not just the arts, but the capacity of communities to engage in the arts.     

Civic Engagement and Economic Opportunity Among Low-Income Individuals: An Asset-Based Approach

This study uses an asset-based approach to examine the ways social and human capital accessed through civic engagement may serve as a pathway toward economic opportunity for low-income individuals. Using a qualitative approach, this study draws on interviews with 31 low-income individuals who are civically engaged in a range of activities, including community organizing, giving money, informal engagement, religious participation, and volunteering. Findings contribute to the literature suggesting that study participants were often able to mobilize and deploy the social and human capital assets accumulated through different types of civic engagement into employment and education opportunities. However, embedded within social and human capital assets are also examples of the ways structural factors influenced whether study participants could transfer social and human capital assets acquired through civic engagement into economic opportunities.     

Bridging and bonding connections beyond the web: youth movements and civic engagement

Young people's participation, supported by the advent and the use of social media, seems to increase and become more definite, especially when it is linked to the local territory and its activities. In this respect, the connections the youths are able to create online go beyond the web, also developing social interactions with local communities. This article, starting from these premises, aims at investigating more deeply the debate about the civic use of the web by young people. The analysis focuses on 20 youth movements (cultural, social-collective, and environmental ones), with national/international relevance, mainly related to the web. Taking into account five main dimensions – internationalization, level of organization, participation, communication, and benefits for the social structure – the paper point outs different dynamics among the movements related to: (1) the use of the net, (2) the transfer from the online communication exchange to the local implementation of the civic actions, and (3) the involvement of the local public opinion. Moreover, the study reveals strong connections among participants, both in terms of bridging and bonding links so that the movements may be considered as a promising opportunity to strengthen civicness and foster social capital.     

Revolution in the making? Social media effects across the globe

Social networking sites are popular tools to engage citizens in political campaigns, social movements, and civic life. However, are the effects of social media on civic and political participation revolutionary? How do these effects differ across political contexts? Using 133 cross-sectional studies with 631 estimated coefficients, I examine the relationship between social media use and engagement in civic and political life. The effects of social media use on participation are larger for political expression and smaller for informational uses, but the magnitude of these effects depends on political context. The effects of informational uses of social media on participation are smaller in countries like the United States, with a free and independent press. If there is a social media revolution, it relates to the expression of political views on social networking sites, where the average effect size is comparable to the effects of education on participation.     

Silencing the Call to Action: A Bird’s Eye View of Minority Language Media and Political Participation in Eurasia

Do citizens living in linguistically diverse countries without benefit of diverse media outlets find this to be a barrier to civic engagement? This study considers the interrelated effects of media access and social capital on political engagement in 15 Eurasian countries as that region continues to transition to an open economy and democracy. Drawing upon individual-level survey data, and controlling for relevant political and socioeconomic factors, regression analyses suggest a significant impact of media plurality, interpersonal trust, and government confidence on both voting turnout and unconventional political participation. The effect of social capital is mixed. Results indicate that higher levels of trust contribute to participation, while greater confidence in government is associated with less participation. These preliminary tests also show that collective action is generally lower in countries having greater linguistic diversity, but suggest that having access to political news in one’s own language can indeed contribute to more activism.     

Social inequalities,social trust and civic participation—the case of Norway

Comparative studies have generally demonstrated high levels of social capital in the Scandinavian welfare states. It has also been shown that social capital is generally higher among more privileged groups of people than among less privileged groups. However, less is known about how the different types of social inequalities relate to various types of social capital. The aim of this study is to go beyond the generally high Norwegian levels of social capital and study variations of social capital within a representative sample of the Norwegian adult population. The main question is whether and to what extent socio-economic indicators relate to measures of social capital, that is, social trust and civic participation. The data are based on a representative sample of the Norwegian adult population, comprising 3190 individuals. The results show that, whereas several of the socio-economic indicators are significant with respect to social trust, it is only the level of education that is significant for both types of social capital. These findings show that the associations between socio-economic indicators and social capital vary, based on the measures applied. Nevertheless, the strong associations between education and both social capital outcomes demonstrate that social capital is not equally available to all, emphasising the importance of social policies and societal institutions in building social capital.     

Does Facebook increase political participation? Evidence from a field experiment

During the last decade, much of political behaviour research has come to be concerned with the impact of the Internet, and more recently social networking sites such as Facebook, on political and civic participation. Although existing research generally finds a modestly positive relationship between social media use and offline and online participation, the majority of contributions rely on cross-sectional data, so the causal impact of social media use remains unclear. The present study examines how Facebook use influences reported political participation using an experiment. We recruited young Greek participants without a Facebook account and randomly assigned a subset to create and maintain a Facebook account for a year. In this paper we examine the effect of having a Facebook account on diverse modes of online and offline participation after six months. We find that maintaining a Facebook account had clearly negative consequences on reports of offline and online forms of political and civic participation.     

Out of the Wilderness – Australian Social Workers Embrace Their Campaigning Roots

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to social capital research and its applicability to social work practice and social policy. It provides an examination of the complexity of social capital and strategies used to build it in local communities. Drawing on data collected from a large quantitative study collected in a rural city in Australia, experiencing rapid population growth, it reports on levels of social, civic, and community participation related to a range of demographic variables. Results highlight the significance of gender, life stage, socioeconomic status, and the influence of neighbourhood connected to different types of participation. Findings presented in this paper draw attention to the unevenness of participation in social, civic, and community life linked to key demographics. The author concludes by arguing that community-building approaches have some merit, so long as critical differences accessing bonding and bridging social capital are acknowledged, and opportunities to promote participation are facilitated.     

Social capital and social exclusion in England and Wales (1972-1999)

Recent research on social capital has explored trends in membership in voluntary organizations. However, there is currently little robust evidence on such trends in the UK since the 1970s, nor is there any analysis of whether participation bridges social divisions or accentuates them. This paper explores trends in participation in England and Wales since 1972 using data from the Social Mobility Inquiry of 1972 and the British Household Panel Survey of 1992 and 1999. We are concerned with social exclusion mechanisms in social capital generation in Britain over the three decades. Using binomial and multinomial models to 'unpack' the effects of socio-cultural factors on civic participation and on different types of associational membership, we test the thesis of across-the-board decline in social capital by Putnam (2000) and that of rising levels of middle-class social capital versus consistent low levels of working-class social capital by Hall (1999). The results show significant socio-cultural-gender differences, a relative stability of middle-class participation, and a rapid decline in the working-class access to social capital. We challenge the established accounts of both theses.     

“Katrina Bloggers Activate!”: The Long‐Term Effects of Digital Media on Civic Participation

There is a lively debate on the relationship between digital media and civic participation. Some scholars argue that digital media adversely affect civic participation, others that the effect of digital media on civic participation is negligible, and still others claim that digital media strengthens civic participation. Yet, most of this research is based on cross‐sectional methodologies, treats digital media as a uniform entity, and overlooks new civic formations that better resonate with current social and technological environments. We address these criticisms with a retrospective case study of blogging in the wake of hurricane Katrina. Through in‐depth interviews, supplemental survey data, analysis of blog posts, and field notes, we show how a number of New Orleans’ residents used blogs to organize and take part in a variety of civic actions in the months and years after hurricane Katrina. We discuss the implications of these findings for current debates on the relationship between digital media and civic participation.     

THE PARADOX OF THE CONTENTED FEMALE WORKER IN A TRADITIONALLY FEMALE INDUSTRY

Small support groups are a relatively new form of voluntary association appearing in the American landscape. Examining the larger implications of the “small group movement” for civic life has led some to see an overall positive effect on wider community activities, while others have viewed small-group participants as self-absorbed and withdrawing from participation in civic activities. Using a national sample of small-group participants, we examine the effects on civic engagement stemming from the social characteristics of participants, the type of small group (religious, secular, or mixed), and the opportunity to develop social capital through participation in small groups. Findings indicate that members of religious small groups do not actively engage in civic affairs, but members of secular and mixed groups do participate in a broad range of civic activities. Differences in social participation can be attributed to characteristics of the small groups (formalization and cohesion) and to some characteristics of members (education). When small support groups offer members the opportunity to acquire civic skills, to exchange information, and to develop self-efficacy, there is more interest and activity in civic affairs.     

Mediated and moderated effects of political communication on civic participation

Australian scholars and politicians have long been concerned about politically uninformed and inactive young Australians. However, few efforts have been made to explain how the use of traditional and online media may affect youth’s participation in politics. Our research utilises the citizen communication mediation model and extends the expected mediation chain by an additional examination of the possible interactions between news media use and political discussions, as suggested by the differential gains model. Using representative data from Australian 10th graders, we examine whether and how news media usage (newspapers, television, radio, and the Internet) affects expected participation in a range of civic and political activities conditional of discussions about political issues (with family, friends, and online). Path models account for additional mediators (civic knowledge and civic efficacy) and control variables to explain future civic and political participation. The results suggest that news media use stimulates political discussions, although different media exert differential effects. Yet, news exposure hardly influences the second mediators (civic knowledge and civic efficacy) in a direct manner. In fact, civic knowledge and efficacy mediate the relationships between political communication and participation, both directly and sequentially. Moderation analyses clarify that despite the mediating role of political discussions, news media exposure also influences (future) civic participation contingent of students’ engagement in (primarily Internet-based) discussions about political and social issues. We emphasise the significance of these results with reference to previous research, discuss potential directions for future research, and draw conclusions for civics and citizenship education.     

Media use and transnational political and civic participation: a case study of Mexicans in the USA

Although communication is largely understood as a prerequisite for transnational activity, little research explores exactly how transnational communities use media and what the implications of media use are for transnational civic and political participation. Research from communication studies suggests that media can affect civic and political participation in various, sometimes contradictory, ways. In an effort to merge literature from transnational and communication studies, in this study I focus on the case of Mexicans in the USA, offering secondary analyses of two datasets concerning their communication habits and civic and political participation in Mexico. Results suggest differential effects on participation based on preferences for certain media and pre‐existing attitudes.     

The role of social media on positive youth development: An analysis of 4-H Facebook page and 4-H'ers' positive development

With the hope of raising children to become responsible and active citizens with upstanding values, many youth-related organizations have focused their efforts on providing quality opportunities to encourage early participation in civic engagements. Many organizations actively engage in social media to fulfill their goals most effectively. Social media offer the potential to promote those opportunities, communicate with youth, and eventually facilitate positive youth development. Considering the importance of social media among youth, it is critical to understand how to use it as a tool to foster youth development. Therefore, utilizing the positive youth development (PYD) framework, this study examines the role of Facebook communications in developing six traits—competence, confidence, connection, character, compassion, and contribution—and their effects on youth civic engagement by analyzing a 4-H club case. Mixed methods are used to conduct a two-step study. The first step analyzes communication patterns of the national 4-H Facebook page through content analysis of posts from 2009 to early 2015. For the second step, seven in-depth interviews were conducted with recent 4-H alumni, who used the official 4-H Facebook page during their period of membership. The findings emphasized the critical role of social media in fostering positive development of youth and future civic engagement, and practical implications are discussed.     

Clothing and social movements: Tibet and the politics of dress

The ‘cultural turn’ in social movement studies has brought a renewed outlook on new social movements and lifestyle movements. In this development on the symbolic challenge of contemporary movements, research has expanded to both music and art. However, little is known about the role of clothing in movements and how activists use it for social change. In making the case for a greater consideration of clothing’s tactical use in identity work, this paper explores the case of the Tibetan Lhakar movement. I argue that for Lhakar activists, clothing is the materialization of the political consciousness of the movement and symbolically acts as a mechanism of communication in shaping its political goals. By using social media to observe individualized collective actions of wearing Tibetan clothing, the paper demonstrates how activists frame and create new political opportunity structures for civic participation in a one party state that controls all speech and movement.     

Are rural development programmes socially inclusive? Social inclusion,civic engagement,participation, and social capital: Exploring the differences

Considerable importance is attached to social exclusion/inclusion in recent EU rural development programmes. At the national/regional operation of these programmes groups of people who are not participating are often identified as ‘socially excluded groups’. This article contends that rural development programmes are misinterpreting the social processes of participation and consequently labelling some groups as socially excluded when they are not. This is partly because of the interchangeable and confused use of the concepts social inclusion, social capital and civic engagement, and partly because of the presumption that to participate is the default position. Three groups identified as socially excluded groups in Northern Ireland are considered. It is argued that a more careful analysis of what social inclusion means, what civic engagement means, and why participation is presumed to be the norm, leads to a different conclusion about who is excluded. This has both theoretical and policy relevance for the much used concept of social inclusion.