Open Access‘Digital Citizens’: Political Participation of Russian Youth Online
Author(s) -
Roman Pyrma
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
vestnik rossijskogo fonda fundamentalʹnyh issledovanij. gumanitarnye i obŝestvennye nauki/vestnik rffi. gumanitarnye i obŝestvennye nauki
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2587-8956
pISSN - 2587-6090
DOI - 10.22204/2587-8956-2020-102-05-143-155
Subject(s) - politics , social media , political communication , citizenship , digital media , political science , sociology , public relations , civil society , online participation , civic engagement , social movement , political efficacy , online and offline , youth participation , media studies , the internet , law , world wide web , computer science
The study contributes to defining the impact of digital communication on civic and political participation, explaining how social media mediate public activism. Based on the concept of the ‘digital citizenship’ the paper reveals the political aspect of the public activism of Russian youth online. The empirical model is based on a combination of methods and procedures of applied research in order to reveal the details of civil and political participation, and protest activism of youth online. The research model includes analysis of social media and a large-scale online survey of the younger audience. Based on the analysis of social media information flows, the paper states the prevalence of the youth’s civic participation over political participation, as well as the fact that the dynamics of social activity depend on the events and the current agenda. The authors describe the level of civic and political activity of youth online based on sociological data. They also divide the audience of the protest theatre according to the following models: leaders, activists, followers, and spectators. In general, the study reveals the status and details of the younger generation’s communication activity online, where communities establish and implications of linking actions appear.