European Integration, and the Media

Given the present economic situations in Ireland, Greece, and a handful of other European countries, the idea of an integrated Europe is under some stress.  In that vein, here's a study (abstract only, sorry) that examines the role of media use and integration.  Or, as the abstract puts it: "The comparatively low level of Europeanization in the news media is said to promote euroscepticism or at least hinder further integration."

Using data from several countries and the smoke-and-mirrors of structural equation modeling (no, I'm not a fan), "we can demonstrate that domestic media use has a positive but small effect on knowledge, attachment to Europe and support for the European Union."  In other words, media use increases -- not decreases -- support for an integrated Europe.

While we're stuck with only the abstract, apparently cognitive mobilization plays a part in the study. I mention this for a couple of reasons.  First, it's one of the more popular search terms that allows people to find this blog.  Second, it's one of my first ever areas of research interest.  And third, I just like the way it sounds, as if a bunch of smart people are getting mobilized. 

So to keep with the cognitive mobilization theme, I point to this study which takes that concept to examine why informed citizens may be skeptical of referenda.  Political knowledge -- the measure of being "informed" -- plays an obvious role in the research.  Five factual questions about Canadian politics (yes, it's a study from Canada) are used as a measure of political knowledge and they seem straightforward. 

But what I really like is the measure of public incompetence -- essentially tapping into the belief that people suck when it comes to politics.  Below are their two questions:

• “The problem with democracy is that most people don't really know what's best for them.”
• “Most people have enough sense to tell whether the government is doing a good job.”

This is a neat idea, a global measure not of internal efficacy, which is whether or not you are capable of participating or understanding politics, but rather a measure of public competence.  I like it.  A lot.  There are some interesting theoretical possibilities here and it smacks of the third-person effect.  Note that I'm not getting into the guts of what they found in this study because, frankly, I'm less interested in that than this concept.  I will point out that political knowledge is negatively associated with support for referenda, which probably has to do with really smart people not trusting other people to vote on stuff.  But ... hold on, say the authors.

Building from this initial statement, the central objective of the paper has been to uncover explanations for this information effect in support for the use of referenda. To do so we identified three possible explanations with firm grounding in the literature: 1) the incompetent public explanation, 2) the confidence in government explanation, and 3) the support for minority rights explanation. Our analyses provide support for the last two explanations, but not the first.

So much for the incompetent public concept, I suppose.  And I had such high hopes for it.

Studying the Disconnected

It's an old question -- is the public as politically inept as it seems, based on decades of research, or do we ask of them the wrong sorts of questions, in the wrong sorts of ways?

I don't have the answer.

But we are seeing a growing trend, that of studying the disaffected and disconnected, the tuned out and the apathetic, a stream of scholarly inquiry that flows from the work of Marcus Prior and others who point out that, thanks to the digital revolution, we have a million more entertaining ways to avoid the news.  And in that vein, this study examines citizens in 33 European countries to attempt to understand who are the disconnected.  They find both a micro and macro explanation works best.  Or as they put it:

The probability of tuning out is a function both of the individual traits of the citizen, but also a function of the supply of news in particular media systems. We find that there are large differences between the European countries when it comes to the degree of disconnected citizens, and that different national media systems can explain some of the differences between the European countries.

Without delving too much into the nitty gritty here, it has do with with significant differences across parts of Europe in social and political capital found in nations, the way the media operate there, and a host of other "macro" factors.  Micro factors matter too, of course, and the study provides insight on both.

Social Media and Learning in Europe

Here's an interesting paper (warning, pdf) on the role of social media in Europe in terms of learning.  Lots of useful stats, neato maps, and fascinating factoids about the Internet in general and social media in particular (scroll down to page 6 for social media stuff, if that's your thing).  The focus is mostly on formal education and the role the Net will play.