Summary
Analyzing data from a telephone survey (N = 527), this study examines the interplay of social capital and media use in affecting civic life in South Korea. Two individual-level indicators of social capital (interpersonal trust and informal socializing) were both positively associated with civic participation. Use of the Internet for entertainment had positive relationships with both interpersonal trust and informal socializing, indicating that the Internet might enhance the production of social capital. Findings also supported the idea that different patterns of media use might either foster or undermine civic engagement.
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Extract
Media Use, Social Capital, and Civic Participation in South Korea
During the last several decades, various types of civic participation in U.S. politics have declined significantly. Participation in presidential elections, for example, went down from about 65% in the 1950s to 50% or below in recent years, with exceptions in 1992 (55%) and 2004 (61%). America is not alone. Though not as dramatic, this decline is also recognizable in other industrialized nations.1 Since the country was democratized in the early 1990s,2 South Korea has experienced a similar linear decline, with presidential turnout falling from over 89% in 1987 to under 71% in 2002.
Robert Putnam, among others, pointed to the erosion of social capital as being responsible, at least in part, for the decline in civic participation in the United States. Social capital, in Putnam's definition, refers to "features of social life-networks, norms, and trust-that enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives."3 Grounded in mutual trust and relationship networks, social capital provides a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for civic and political participation.4While it is likely that social capital is related to the civic engagement of citizens worldwide, this relationship has been investigated mostly in the United States. Using South Korean survey data, this study examines whether social capital plays an important part in a country with a different political system and a strong cohesive cultural tradition. The role of media use in the equation is examined. Do the media function to enhance or erode social capital? Do different patterns of media use produce different consequences? This study ...See the full content of this document
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