Assessing the Potential of Internet Political Participation in the United States

Abstract

An emerging scholarly consensus asserts that patterns of Internet political participation will merely imitate the established patterns of participatory inequality in the United States. Because those from advantaged backgrounds access the medium at higher rates, the opportunities to participate via the Internet should disproportionately extend to high-resource individuals. I argue that the focus on access has important theoretical limitations. If one accepts the future possibility of near-equal access, then explorations of the Internet’s participatory potential should include theoretical guidance about what types of individuals would most likely participate if equal Internet access were achieved. Drawing on diverse literature, two expectations develop; one predicts the reinforcement of existing participation patterns, and the other suggests a change in those patterns to include new types of individuals. I empirically test these competing claims, concluding that given equalized access, the Internet shows genuine potential to bring new individuals into the political process.