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Media Use, Democratic Values, and Political Participation: Empirical Evidence from Taiwan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

WEN-CHUN CHANG
WEN-CHUN CHANG*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Finance, National Taipei University, Taiwan wchang@mail.ntpu.edu.tw.
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Abstract

This paper extends understanding of the relationship between media use and attitudes toward democratic values. We employ the two-step estimation approach to examine the relationship between media use and attitudes toward democratic values as well as consequential association with political participation. The empirical results show that media use to obtain news information is positively related to attitudes toward democratic values. The findings also note that attitudes toward democratic values are positively associated with engagement in politics. The results support the argument that media use is significant for shaping citizens’ attitudes toward democratic values by providing information about public affairs and expanding citizens’ understanding about democratic politics. As such, media use facilitates democratic socialization and leads to more involvement in political behaviors.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , September 2017 , pp. 385 - 406
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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