A Digital Divide in Political Participation: Exploring Antecedents and Effects of Online Political Participation

Online participation is a thriving topic in communication and Internet research. One prominent area within research on online participation focuses on participation divides. Participation divides are frequently understood as social inequalities in online content creation. To create a broader understanding of participation domains, and thereby participation divides, we conduct a systematic literature review. Analyzing 192 journal articles and conference proceedings, we identify central definitions, antecedents, and outcomes of online participation. Most notably, we detect five distinct domains of online participation: political & civic, economic/business, cultural, health-related, and educational participation. Surveying all five domains, we find some noteworthy differences in the respective participation divides. This position paper interprets the participitation divides in each domain, derives propositions for future research and connects the findings to the overall topic of "Communication and the Good Life".

Als: "A Matter of Context: Differentiating Participation Divides by Social Field" im Programm?