The Internet and Civic Engagement

Aaron Smith, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Sidney Verba, Henry Brady (2009) The Internet and Civic Engagement

"Whether they take place on the internet or off, traditional political activities remain the domain of those with high levels of income and education." pp.3

"Political activity is highly correlated with income, whether that activity takes place online or offline". pp.5

"Those who use blogs or sns as an outlet for civic engagement are far more active in traditional realms of political and nonpolitical participation than are other internet users. In addition, they are even more active than those who do not use the internet at all." pp.7

"Those who use blogs or SNSs politically are much more likely to be invested in other forms of civic and political activism." pp.7

"The internet reduces almost to zero the additional costs of seeking to organize many rather than few potential adherents even if they are widely scattered geographically" pp.14.

"... not simply use the internet as a way to disseminating information, they also use its capabilities to communicate with adherents and sympathizers and to recruit them to take political action - either on of offline." pp.15.

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