公共信息接触、政治效能和公共参与的“良性循环”

A "Virtuous Circle" among Public Information Exposure, Political Efficacy, and Civic Engagement

研究基于强化螺旋模型,探讨在社交媒体语境下,青年网民的公共信息接触、政治效能和公共参与之间的相互关系。研究发现,上述三者之间不存在完全相互作用。其中,公共信息接触与政治效能之间仅存在媒介选择作用但不存在媒介效果;公共信息接触与公共参与之间既不存在媒介选择作用也不存在媒介效果;政治效能与公共参与仅表现出从行为到态度的单向因果效应。总体来看,青年个体的公共信息接触、政治效能和公共参与之间呈现出一种“良性循环”现象,媒介仍主要发挥巩固作用而非动员作用,公共信息接触鸿沟和公共参与鸿沟正在形成。

The degree of public information exposure is an important indicator for testing citizens’ concern for public affairs, and the latter often constitutes the basis of civic engagement. Based on the reinforcing spirals model, this research conducted a two-wave panel survey to explore the causal relationships among individuals’ public information exposure, political efficacy, and civic engagement in the context of social media. The study found no reciprocal influence among the above three. To be more specific, there was a selection effect but no media effect between public information exposure and political efficacy;there was neither selection effect nor media effect between public information exposure and civic engagement, or between political efficacy and civic engagement. there was only a one-way causal effect from behavior to attitude. In conclusion, there seems to be a "virtuous circle" among public information exposure, political efficacy, and civic engagement for the Chinese youth. The media still play the role of a consolidation force rather than a mobilization force. A public information gap and a civic engagement gap are forming.