Faster internet access has significantly weakened civic participation in Britain, according to a study that found involvement in political parties, trade unions and volunteering fell as web speeds rose.
Volunteering in social care fell by more than 10% when people lived closer to local telecoms exchange hubs and so enjoyed faster web access. Involvement in political parties fell by 19% with every 1.8km increase in proximity to a hub. By contrast, the arrival of fast internet had no significant impact on interactions with family and friends.
The analysis of behaviour among hundreds of thousands of people led by academics from Cardiff University and Sapienza University of Rome found faster connection speeds may have reduced the likelihood of civic engagement among close to 450,000 people more than double the estimated membership of the Conservative party. They found that as internet speeds rose between 2005 and 2018, time online crowded out other forms of civic engagement.
The studys authors have also speculated that the phenomenon may have helped fuel populism as peoples involvement with initiatives for the common good, which they say are effectively schools of democracy where people learn the benefit of cooperation, has declined.
Other studies have shown that social media engagement has strengthened other kinds of civic engagement, for example by helping to organise protests and fuelling an interest in politics, even if it does not manifest in traditional forms of participation.
However, politics conducted online has been found to be more susceptible to filter bubbles, which limit participants exposure to opposing views and so foster polarisation.
We observed that civic participation and the form of engagement in the activities of voluntary organisations and political participation declined with proximity to the network, said Fabio Sabatini, a co-author of the study. Fast internet seems to crowd out this kind of social engagement.
Face-to-face volunteering in the UK has been in decline for substantial periods in recent history. It fell from 2005 to 2011 and again in 2020 as Covid-19 hit, according to separate analysis by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
The new study, published in the Journal of Public Economics, gathered information from the communications regulator Ofcom about the location of local internet cabling exchanges, which during the period studied were a key determinant of data speeds. It then cross-referenced this with residents survey responses from the British Household Panel Survey and the UK Household Longitudinal Study about their engagement with social organisations.
The combined effect on engagement with organisations such as political parties, unions and professional associations was a 6% reduction in participation from 2010 to 2017 for each 1.8km closer to the local exchange someone lived.
The biggest impact was on political party involvement, while the impact on trade unions was far smaller a 3.6% reduction. That chimes with estimates of declining membership of the main UK parties over the period studied, with the exception of a spike caused by a surge in Labour membership before Jeremy Corbyns election as party leader in 2015.
The decline in political parties appeal when internet speeds rise compared with unions may be because political parties only indirectly safeguard their supporters particular interests [while] trade unions have a stronger and more explicit commitment to advocate for their members, the study suggested.
The effect on volunteering with organisations that deliver social care and environmental improvements as well as the Scouts, which have been defined by sociologists as instilling habits of cooperation, solidarity, and public-spiritedness, was measured at a 7.8% reduction.
These kinds of organisations have been defined as schools of democracy where people learn the benefit of cooperation Sabatini said, adding that involvement with such organisations also helped people to trust strangers.
The rise of populism has been linked to a decline in interest in public affairs and we thought that, being less politically and socially active, people may be less capable of interpreting political phenomena and understanding the complexity of the management of public affairs, Sabatini said.
While bonding social capital [family and friends] seems resilient to technological change, bridging social capital [politics, volunteering, unions] proves fragile and vulnerable to the pressure of technology, the study concluded.
This result is disturbing as it suggests that progress in information and communications technology can undermine an essential factor of economic activity and the functioning of democratic institutions.
Read the original post:
Faster internet speeds linked to lower civic engagement in UK - The Guardian
- What populist means: Theres more to the label, associated with leaders like Donald Trump, than meets the eye - Firstpost - January 23rd, 2021 [January 23rd, 2021]
- Inoculating the masses against demagogic populism - The Kathmandu Post - January 23rd, 2021 [January 23rd, 2021]
- All Quiet on the Populist Front? by Jan-Werner Mueller - Project Syndicate - January 23rd, 2021 [January 23rd, 2021]
- Is the populist tide ebbing? Despite Donald Trumps impending departure, growing global populism is still po - The Times of India Blog - January 23rd, 2021 [January 23rd, 2021]
- That Old-Time Southern Populism - The American Prospect - January 23rd, 2021 [January 23rd, 2021]
- No, conservatives shouldn't quit the Republican Party - New York Post - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- Bidens Policies Are Popular. What Does That Mean for Republicans? - The New York Times - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- RPT-COLUMN-Populist crowd fails to breach the silver fortress for now: Andy Home - Reuters - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- Column: Populist crowd fails to breach the silver fortress for now - Reuters - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- How wealth inequality, populism have impacted stock market - Yahoo Finance - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- Populism in the pandemic age - New Statesman - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- The Congress Partys politics of populism - The New Indian Express - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- Why the GameStop affair is a perfect example of 'platform populism' - The Guardian - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- Amid the babble of populist voices, we need to find the... - Daily Maverick - February 11th, 2021 [February 11th, 2021]
- Without Trump, What Is the Future of Trumpism? - World Politics Review - February 11th, 2021 [February 11th, 2021]
- Populism at what cost - The Shillong Times - July 1st, 2021 [July 1st, 2021]
- Can Zelensky's Turn to Populism to Save Him in the Next Ukrainian Election? - The National Interest - July 1st, 2021 [July 1st, 2021]
- Vox, Covid-19, and populist discourses in Spain - EUROPP - European Politics and Policy - July 1st, 2021 [July 1st, 2021]
- Medical Populism Hasn't Saved the Philippines from COVID-19 | Time - TIME - July 1st, 2021 [July 1st, 2021]
- The populism moment is fading - TheArticle - July 1st, 2021 [July 1st, 2021]
- Batley and Spen result offers hope in the fight against populism: Yorkshire Post Letters - The Yorkshire Post - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- Democracy Is for Losers (and Why Thats a Good Thing) - The New York Times - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- The US Finds Itself on the Wrong Side of Imran Khans Populism - The Nation - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- Comment: Trump is blurring the lines of populism, facsism | HeraldNet.com - The Daily Herald - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- We Might Have Reached Peak Populism - The Atlantic - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- Politicians talk about net zero but not the sacrifices we must make to get there - The Guardian - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- The need to move away from clientelism - The Hindu - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- The Murder of David Amess must change the way we look at politics - Cherwell Online - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- Attacks on Hindus: Bangladesh could be following the recent global trend of rising majoritarian populism, - Free Press Journal - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- Pulitzer prize finalist speaks on the role of writing in urban development - Yale Daily News - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- Power tariff cut to put Rs5K cr burden - The Tribune - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- DAVID MAIMELA: The DA, populism and the return of its poster child - Eyewitness News - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- Sam McBride: Childish populism at Stormont ultimately hurts the very voters they are trying to woo - Belfast Telegraph - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- 2022 and 'the passion gap' why Republicans are more fired up | TheHill - The Hill - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- Shared Loves and Strong Loyalties | R. R. Reno - First Things - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- The Rise of Jos Antonio Kast in Chile - Americas Quarterly - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- Has Joe Biden Abandoned Trumpism and Populist Politics? - BU Today - November 2nd, 2021 [November 2nd, 2021]
- Glenn Youngkin wants to be the Education Governor but he doesn't want schools to teach the truth - LGBTQ Nation - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- During the pandemic, conspiracy theories have run rampant. Europe needs to counter it with a public service internet Work and digitalisation - IPS... - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Protesters embraced the cognitive dissonance of claiming to own science while basking in conspiracies and fanciful theories - Coda Story - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Willie, Nay. Apu, Aye - The American Conservative - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Wolfgang Streeck In the Superstate: What is technopopulism? LRB 27 January 2022 - London Review of Books - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Patel's navy Channel threat once again exposes the Tory's militarist populism - The Canary - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Cityshaping without the politics of populism and polarisation - Building Design - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Boris Johnsons populism may be muted, but it is still accelerating Britains decline - iNews - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Tryst with Strong Leader Populism review: The rise to absolute power - The Hindu - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- In an era of rightwing populism, we cannot destroy democracy in order to save it - The Guardian - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- The godfather of populism: Silvio Berlusconi bows out of politics - TheArticle - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- The Struggle for the Soul of the GOP - The New Republic - April 14th, 2022 [April 14th, 2022]
- Terms of Trade | What drives competitive populism in India? - Hindustan Times - April 14th, 2022 [April 14th, 2022]
- Opinion | To Overcome the Republicans' Culture War, Democrats Need to Punch Up, Not Down - POLITICO - April 14th, 2022 [April 14th, 2022]
- Saskatchewan Party populism the model to unseat Trudeau Liberals: Brian Lee Crowley in the National Post - Macdonald-Laurier Institute - April 14th, 2022 [April 14th, 2022]
- The pandemic of populism - The News International - April 14th, 2022 [April 14th, 2022]
- Populism and the federal election: what can we expect from Hanson, Palmer, Lambie and Katter? - The Conversation - April 14th, 2022 [April 14th, 2022]
- Right-Wing Populism May Rise in the U.S. - WSJ - December 14th, 2022 [December 14th, 2022]
- Reckoning with 'populism at its worst' | Surveying the Views ... - boulder-monitor.com - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Is it Ireland's turn to ward off a toxic populism? - America: The Jesuit Review - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]