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Den unga akademikern och politiken

Engström, Max LU and Bedman, Oscar (2019) SKOK11 20191
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract
This paper aims to examine what motivates political engagement for a young university student. The paper has been guided by Esser & de Vreese’s definition of political engagement. Furthermore, we sought to complement the current knowledge in relation to young voters regarding what motivates them and how the political communication and digitalization matters in the process. Three research areas have been selected to understand the behavior of young voters: turnout, personalization of politics and grassroots organizations. Qualitative interviews with a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach were conducted, with the individual’s view of reality in focus. The analysis indicates that the digitalization has confused and created misbelief... (More)
This paper aims to examine what motivates political engagement for a young university student. The paper has been guided by Esser & de Vreese’s definition of political engagement. Furthermore, we sought to complement the current knowledge in relation to young voters regarding what motivates them and how the political communication and digitalization matters in the process. Three research areas have been selected to understand the behavior of young voters: turnout, personalization of politics and grassroots organizations. Qualitative interviews with a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach were conducted, with the individual’s view of reality in focus. The analysis indicates that the digitalization has confused and created misbelief regarding politics for some of the respondents. The sheer amount of information has resulted in some individuals make selective choices based upon a vast array of subconscious psychological mechanisms. This has resulted in an unilateral source of information for the respondents, a phenomenon that politicians and media is aware of and may take advantage off. The digitalization has blurred the lines between what politicians publish online as individuals and professionals. The subconscious psychological mechanisms are, in this study, accounted for but not elaborated extensively. Additionally the study shows that lower levels of political engagement can be rather be manifested through higher levels of social engagement instead, where the line that constitutes a social- respectively political engagement is therefore blurred. (Less)
Popular Abstract (Swedish)
Denna studie syfte är att undersöka vad som bedriver ett politiskt engagemang hos en ung akademiker. Studien har utgått från Esser & de Vreeses definition av politiskt engagemang. Studien avser att öka kunskapen för hur den unga väljaren uppfattar sin politiska omgivning och vad som motiverar ett politiskt engagemang samt hur den politiska kommunikationen och digitaliseringen har betydelse i denna process. Tre forskningsområden: valdeltagande, personifiering av politik och gräsrotsorganisationer har valts ut för att förstå och kartlägga beteendet. Detta har genomförts med kvalitativa intervjuer med en hermeneutisk-fenomenologisk ansats där individens syn på verklighet satts i fokus. Vad som framgår i analysen är att digitaliseringen skapat... (More)
Denna studie syfte är att undersöka vad som bedriver ett politiskt engagemang hos en ung akademiker. Studien har utgått från Esser & de Vreeses definition av politiskt engagemang. Studien avser att öka kunskapen för hur den unga väljaren uppfattar sin politiska omgivning och vad som motiverar ett politiskt engagemang samt hur den politiska kommunikationen och digitaliseringen har betydelse i denna process. Tre forskningsområden: valdeltagande, personifiering av politik och gräsrotsorganisationer har valts ut för att förstå och kartlägga beteendet. Detta har genomförts med kvalitativa intervjuer med en hermeneutisk-fenomenologisk ansats där individens syn på verklighet satts i fokus. Vad som framgår i analysen är att digitaliseringen skapat ett informationsutbud lett till förvirring och således missförtroende för politiken hos vissa intervjupersoner. Utbudet har också resulterat i att individer gör selektiva urval som grundar sig i undermedvetna psykologiska mekanismer, vilket gjort att intaget av information kan bli för ensidig hos intervjupersonerna, något forskningen visar att politiker och media är medvetna om och utnyttjar. Gränslandet mellan det privata och offentliga i relation till politikern har suddats ut i och med digitaliseringen, och i dessa miljöer kan politiker verka för att vinna fördelar. De psykologiska mekanismer tas i beaktning i denna studie men är ingenting som fördjupas ytterligare. Studien visar även att lågt politiskt engagemang kan uttryckas i ett högt socialt engagemang istället, varpå gränsen för vad som utgör ett socialt- respektive politiskt engagemang blir diffust. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Engström, Max LU and Bedman, Oscar
supervisor
organization
alternative title
En kvalitativ studie om unga väljares politiska engagemang
course
SKOK11 20191
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
political communication, political engagement, personalization of politics, turnout, young voters, grassroots organization
language
Swedish
id
8978965
date added to LUP
2019-06-11 16:04:40
date last changed
2019-06-11 16:04:40
@misc{8978965,
  abstract     = {{This paper aims to examine what motivates political engagement for a young university student. The paper has been guided by Esser & de Vreese’s definition of political engagement. Furthermore, we sought to complement the current knowledge in relation to young voters regarding what motivates them and how the political communication and digitalization matters in the process. Three research areas have been selected to understand the behavior of young voters: turnout, personalization of politics and grassroots organizations. Qualitative interviews with a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach were conducted, with the individual’s view of reality in focus. The analysis indicates that the digitalization has confused and created misbelief regarding politics for some of the respondents. The sheer amount of information has resulted in some individuals make selective choices based upon a vast array of subconscious psychological mechanisms. This has resulted in an unilateral source of information for the respondents, a phenomenon that politicians and media is aware of and may take advantage off. The digitalization has blurred the lines between what politicians publish online as individuals and professionals. The subconscious psychological mechanisms are, in this study, accounted for but not elaborated extensively. Additionally the study shows that lower levels of political engagement can be rather be manifested through higher levels of social engagement instead, where the line that constitutes a social- respectively political engagement is therefore blurred.}},
  author       = {{Engström, Max and Bedman, Oscar}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Den unga akademikern och politiken}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}