Media Use and Social Capital in Serbia: Can Mass Media Use Affect Social Trust and Life Satisfaction in a Transitional Society?

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session III
  In Interactive Poster Session: Global Communication and Social Change Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This study examined the impact of media use variables on social capital outcomes in Serbia, a transitional society in Eastern Europe. The results of a national survey (N=544) indicate that, in a nation of avid TV users, newspaper use could be the best predictor of social trust and life satisfaction. However, when controls for social background were entered in the models, all media use variables lost their predictive power. Trust in television news did not moderate the relationships between TV use and social trust and life satisfaction, but was a significant predictor of social trust. The results support previous research that pointed to the flaws in Putnam’s original hypothesis of the negative impact of television use on social capital. Due to the lack of explanatory value of media use variables, this study calls for the reexamination of the use of media use variables in models that predict social capital outcomes.

Author

• Ivanka Pjesivac, U of Georgia