Page 41 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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Information and Political Change
suggested that participation in affinity groups, youth soccer leagues, sup-
port groups, interest organizations, and other novel associations may be
replacing memberships in venerable but outdated groups such as Elks
Clubs, Rotaries, and Boy Scouts. If so, the research indicating a decline in
social capital may be due to a combination of inadequate conceptualiza-
33
tion and measurement of the wrong activities. Likewise, in influencing
explicitly political engagement, new forms of “lifestyle” politics, political
consumerism, and other novel ways of being “political” may be dis-
placing the traditional political actions that scholars have measured. 34
Therefore, to the extent that political and civic identity and modes of
actionarechanging,civicengagementmayalsosimplybechangingshape
rather than decaying.
This debate will benefit substantially from the passage of time, as his-
torical perspective sharpens assessments of stability and change and as
new survey evidence differentiates long-term from short-term trends.
The debate is relevant here, nonetheless, because of the possible role
of information technology in it. One of the most persistent specula-
tions about “the Internet and politics” has been that cheap, ubiquitous
information and communication will expand possibilities for engage-
ment and fuel a rise in overall levels of citizen involvement with their
communities and political system. It is clear that the contemporary in-
formation revolution is making the individual’s political environment far
more information-rich. It is also clear from research on political behavior
and public opinion that political knowledge – information that has been
assimilated by individuals – is connected with political action. In other
words, more knowledgeable citizens are indeed more engaged. But the
linkbetweenchangesincitizens’informationalenvironmentandchanges
in their internal political knowledge is far less clear. It seems intuitive that
exposure to more information should lead to the internalization of more
information and to changes in behavior. Some rational theories of politi-
calbehaviorformalizethatlink,interpretingthecostofinformationasan
important regulator of its “consumption” and of the action that follows.
Decrease the cost of a desired good, such as information, and more will
33
ThedaSkocpol,“UnravellingfromAbove,”inRobertKuttner,ed.,TickingTimeBombs:
The New Conservative Assault on Democracy (New York: New Press, 1996), pp. 292–
301; Michael Schudson, “What If Civic Life Didn’t Die?” in Kuttner, ed.,Ticking Time
Bombs, pp. 286–291; Nicholas Lemann, “Kicking in Groups,” The Atlantic Monthly
277, no. 4 (1996): 22–26.
34 For a discussion, see W. Lance Bennett, “The UnCivic Culture: Communication,
Identity, and the Rise of Lifestyle Politics,” PS: Political Science and Politics 31, no. 4
(1998): 741–761.

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