new paper published: comparing bonding and bridging ties for democratic engagement

new paper published: comparing bonding and bridging ties for democratic engagement

I have a new paper that has been published in the June issue of the journal Information, Communication & Society. The article is titled \”Comparing Bonding and Bridging Ties for Democratic Engagement: Everyday use of Communication Technologies Within Social Networks for Civic and Civil Behaviors\”.

This paper explores the question of what matters more for democratic engagement, strong or weak ties? And how does frequency of communication with core ties, using the Internet, mobile phone, etc. affect this relationship? I was particularly interested in the role of political disagreement within core networks. Other research suggests that political heterogeneity amongst core ties reduces political participation. However, I found, that when we consider democratic engagement more broadly than just voting, political disagreement amongst strong ties is associated with higher levels of civil and civic behaviors. Here is the abstract:

The structure of people\’s social networks predicts democratic engagement. However, the relative contribution of different types of social ties to civic and civil behaviors is unclear. This paper explores the role of core networks – bonding social capital – to the role of overall network diversity – bridging social capital – for participation in formal civic institutions and informal civil behaviors. Emphasis is placed on the possible role of heterogeneity within core networks – political disagreement and the presence of nonkin ties – and on frequency of interaction, in-person and mediated: mobile phone and the Internet. This study finds that overall network diversity is a more consistent and substantive predictor of civic and civil behaviors than the size or heterogeneity of the small number of ties that make up the core network of most people. The two dominant new media used to interact with core network members – email and mobile phones – are unrelated to any of the behaviors measured. Some other media – contact in-person, postal mail, texting, instant messaging, and social network services – have an inconsistent and modest relationship to civic and civil behaviors. Findings lead to speculation that political disagreement within core networks, typically associated with lower levels of political participation, has a spillover effect that results in other forms of democratic engagement. There is evidence of glocalization; contact with core ties using new media supports local civil and civic behaviors. Internet use largely supports democratic engagement through interaction with bridging, but not bonding ties.

A copy of the final version can be obtained from the journal\’s website, or you can view an earlier draft on my website.