Digital Technology And Political Culture

The Internet has been changing the world since it is created. As a part of new media, social media is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. It has been helped to create a digital global village that 26% of the world’s population is using social media and the number is keep increasing. (Qualman, 2013) This essay will attempt to discuss how has the social media changed the public sphere, mainly focus on the improvement of public participation, social relations and information dissemination. Also Mainland China is taken as an example to show that social media enabling democracy in a developing country. Social media is also being used in good ways to spread information. There are some disadvantages to be analyzed, too. The issues like lack of privacy, social media violence and social media out of control will be discussed in this essay.

Just what does political culture mean and describe the individualistic subculture in terms of government size, assistance, politics, and primary goals? 9

In the past ten years the way we as a people communicate has changed greatly. No longer is it uncommon for conversations to not be face to face and now more so than ever conversations take place through text. As with any change there will be and is push back to it. The conflict over the consequences of the social media dependent society have now intensified as a result of social media playing ever greater roles in how politics is seen and even conducted. This has been a major societal question since the presidential election of 2008 and the debate has been written about, discussed, and argued by thousands of different politicians,

The definition of political culture can be given as the collection of sentiments and convictions which allow signification and consistency to a political process. Said definition also includes providing the norms and latent assumptions that determine conduct in a political system. Ergo, political culture can be considered a reflection of the beliefs and opinions of a culture’s people about the concept of government, including specifically how said people think others should regard such. As such, the political culture of a given system is the accumulation of the culture’s composite history as well as the personal histories of individuals within the system.

However, political communication has experienced a great deal of change within the past ten years. Now, politicians have caught on to using social media in order to connect with younger demographics of voters who are participating in elections and political conversation more than ever. Successfully integrating yourself into pop culture is a political

Political culture – a shared and common way of responding to the political landscape and environment via our values, beliefs, and attitudes. Political culture also is a set of attitudes that shapes our political behavior, such as, moral judgments, political myths, beliefs and ideas about what makes for a good society. David J. Elazar identified three political cultures:

A political culture is a designed method for thinking about political life that is imparted by various individuals, compasses the generations, and rejects different qualities and traditions. It distinguishes the

Political culture: A set of values and beliefs shared by the overall society. This is significant because it is a set of values that unites the society and brings them to common ground, to accomplish things for the greater good.

Over the years the media has made citizens major role players in politics. Ross Perot opened eyes by putting the 1992 Election in the media and thereby allowing voters to become directly involved in politics. The Internet, the new form of mass media “has turned into a major political and media industry” (Grossman 16). Because of the rise the Internet has taken, the idea of direct democracy has risen. The foundation of direct democracy is in self-government. The claim is that the presence of the Internet will increase citizens’ involvement in political issues by allowing them access to more information. This is significant because it takes a look at the impact of technology on society and politics, as well by

Political culture has always been one of the most seductive and popular concepts in political science: and one of the most controversial and confusing topics.A reaction against the concept comes primarily from misleading claims made to it is political culture nor the views that political culture is not connected to lengthy debates.

This is achieved through the influence of the media among all people. In accordance to Shelley Boulianne in an article written by John Wihbey it was observed that citizens who “consume more news media have a greater probability of being civically and politically engaged.” Meaning that social media, as used by e-activism can help incorporate more people into the political atmosphere of the United States. Furthermore, Boulianne concludes “social media plays a positive role in citizens’ participation.” This in theory could solve the problem of uneven participation rates, seeing as the use of social media affects more of the population and an extended variety of

As a logical consequence, Postmes and Brunsting (2002) reasoned that the Internet is changing society because people's cognitive processes, triggered by access to information and communication, replace the strong social ties that traditionally underpin committed activism. In simpler words, in the past, humanity used the herd instinct as the main driving force behind committed forms of activism. Thanks to the Internet, we climb another step or three on the evolutionary ladder, and simply do away with the herd instinct and replace it with reason. The argument, if put this way, does not sound particularly strong. What can be taken away is that social media is still evolving, that social media changes the way we – or most of us communicate, that social media is used in social and political activism, and that the Internet increases quantitative if not qualitative access to information.

In the writing by Briggs (Young People and Political Participation: Teen Players) she notes that “social media are a critical new space for political discourse and engagement, which political institutions cannot afford to neglect” as the younger audiences use social media, and the people they follow as a guide it seemed vital that modern day politics has to infiltrate social media formats. This can be utilised by politicians and their agenda to widen the scope of their message. In the Praeger Handbook of Political Campaigning in the United States, Benoit investigates how successful an organised strategy using new media to win an election can be for political candidates. He states that “the innovative use of new media contributed to President Barack Obama's presidential campaign win in 2008” (Benoit, 2016). Obama's presidential campaign was one of the first to set the standard for political strategy online. The literature talks about the expansion of the internet and how that has provided a suitable platform for political agendas to grow exponentially. With the focus of the research project highlighting the specific use of social media it is important to reflect on the initial stages of online political campaigning, and to understand how Trump has cultivated this style of political

In today’s world, we humans are defined by the technology that we use. As technology develops, we adapt to it. This also comes in the form of altering our personal and political identities. With the development of new technologies, we are able to get our ideas from many different sources rather than the newspaper or television. Today we get our news via ads, the internet, and other sources. Because of this, political parties are able to more easily share their beliefs onto others in hopes of changing their political viewpoint. In today’s society, we strive to be perfect. And with that comes social norm and acceptance. Because of this, the younger generation is more easily persuaded to believe one ideology if they are constantly told that the majority think this way. The same can be applied to someone’s personal identity. With the craze of YouTube and other social media platforms, more and more people are striving to be perfect. With how easy it is to share a video, many people for example are posting videos online of makeup tutorials, how to dress to certain events, and even what styles are popular. With this, young people are losing their ability to make decisions on their own and depend on a third party to tell them how to act and what to wear. They lose their personal identities because of this since everyone around them is also dressing the same way. Another example of how technology has a large influence over political identity is this past 2016 Presidential

Social media has grown at phenomenal rates over the past decade, with its rise being easily visible in several fields such as publishing, business, and activism, among others. The rise of its use in the field of politics is well known by those who are on and off social media, as a result of increasing number of politicians using this global platform to their maximum advantage.