Social Media Use and Civic Participation in Urbanizing China

• In Event: Zoo Station: Social Media and Political Engagement

Abstract

This article examines the link between social media use and civic participation in urbanizing China. We test the hypothesis that social media use will influence both formal and informal forms of civic participation. We estimate pooled logistic regressions using data from the 2018 Urbanization and Quality of Life Survey and the 2010 China Population Census. The results demonstrate that social media use has no significant effect on formal form of political participation—voting in the People’s Congress representative election, but is positively associated with informal forms of civic participation, including paying attention to government information dissemination via traditional media, the Internet, and social media platforms, and participating in social media groups organized among community residents. Urbanization by administrative classification has a positive effect on formal political participation, that is voting for the National People’s Congress representative; whereas county population density, a substantial measure of urbanization, has a positive effect on various forms of informal civic participation, such as paying attention to the information government released via different media outlets and participating in social media groups organized by community residents. We argue that social media is acting as a non-institutional interest expression supply mechanism in the Chinese political system which provides an effective platform for those, who are currently experiencing urbanization, to participate in informal forms of community activities to express their interests or needs rather than formal political participation. The research expands literature on the interaction among social media, civic participation, and governance.

Authors

• Chunying Yue, Havard U

• Dapeng Wang, Peking Univesity