C39.
Rice, R. E. & Katz, J .E. (2003). The Internet and political
involvement
in 1996 and 2000. In P. Howard & G. Jones (Eds.), Society
online:
The Internet in context (pp. 103-120). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
This chapter provides an overview of recent results on the
relationship
between Internet use and the Digital Divide, community involvement, and
social interaction, from nationally representative telephone surveys we
conducted in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000. The chapter then provides
specific results on the relationship between Internet use and political
activity, using our 1996 data, and 1996 and the 2000 data from the Pew
Internet and American Life surveys. The detailed analyses
reported
here were guided by four major questions: (1) Do Internet users differ
from non-users in terms of their level of traditional forms (i.e.,
offline)
of political activity? (2) Do long-term users of the Internet differ
from
other Internet users? (3) In what sorts of online political activities
do Internet users engage, and how much is that engagement explained by
demographic variables? (4) How do Internet users feel that this new
technology
has affected their political information and activities? Overall,
it seems that the Internet has had a mild positive impact on political
activity during the 1996 and 2000 elections. Thus, rather than
the
Internet diminishing traditional forms of political activity, it is
associated
with somewhat greater traditional as well as new political activities.
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