Bowling Online, Not Alone: Online Social Capital and Political Participation in Singapore

Abstract

Since gaining independence in 1965, the Singapore government has relentlessly pursued economic growth and prosperity, while at the same time exercising tight political controls, which has largely eroded traditional political participation among the citizens (George, 2003; Rodan, 1998). In the economic domain, Singapore's performance has indeed been very impressive; the country was recently ranked as the second in the world regarding the Global Potential Competitiveness and rated as the Most Competitive Asian Economy, among numerous other accolades (Economic Development Board, 2007). At the same time, its democratic record has been less than stellar, earning Singapore a “partly free” rating in the Freedom in the World report (Freedom House, 2007) and a “noticeable problems” label regarding the state of media freedoms (Reporters Without Borders, 2007). Not surprisingly, several studies and reports have indicated high levels of political apathy in Singaporeans (e.g. Chan & Wong, 2001; Veloo, 2002; Yap, 2000). However, since Singapore has universal suffrage and all citizens over 21 are required to vote by law, this apathy has not been reflected in the election turnout rates. In recent years, researchers have suggested that the Internet may play an important role in reviving and rejuvenating civic and political participation in Singapore (George & Yee, 2007; Kluver & Soon, 2004; Tan, 2003; Yeo, 2003). Given Singapore's estimated 90 percent literacy rate for above 15-year olds (U.S. Department of State, 2007) and highly developed information infrastructure with 99% connectivity (IDA, 2007), it can be argued that its populace is in a good position to take advantage of the new forms of social connectivity. Singapore's online public sphere is well-developed—a recent survey by Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority (Feng, 2007) estimated 862,000 bloggers and 958,000 blog readers out of a population of less than 5 million. Still, research suggests that such high Internet penetration has not been fully utilized for democratizing public discourse in Singapore, indicating that its technologically less developed neighbor Malaysia has shown greater democratic gains from the Internet (George, 2005a). Although optimistic expectations regarding the democratizing capacity of the Internet have been challenged (Kalathil & Boas, 2003; Kluver, 2004), it is undeniable that the Internet has helped promote political development worldwide through the reduction of costs of social and political engagement (Best & Dautrich, 2003; Kedzie, 1997). Through the Internet, individuals are able to easily learn about government policies and actions, exchange information, socialize with others, connect with community, establish shared norms, and develop networks (Bimber, 1998; Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Etzioni, 1999). This study seeks to examine whether the emerging social networks on the Internet could pave the paths for the revival of political participation both online and offline and perhaps offer a viable alternative to traditional models of social connectedness such as voluntary and civic associations, community organizations, social clubs, etc. The Internet could reverse the decline of traditional social capital by reducing the cost of organizing offline meetings and events, but could also promote completely new forms of sociability characterized by greater convenience and efficiency (Resnick, 2002). If the erosion of social capital could be faulted for the decrease in political participation as Putnam (2000) originally proposed, it is plausible that new forms of social capital that are being created online could also revitalize it. If feasible, such mechanisms for reviving participation could be even more important in countries such as Singapore, where significant constraints on offline political expression are in existence and where traditional venues for civic participation are limited. In a society with little tradition of truly independent, grassroots civic activism (e.g. Rodan, 1998), cyberspace may provide new tools and outlets for citizens to meet, discuss public affairs and organize. As the Internet is very much incorporated into the Singaporean lifestyle (Internet World Stats, 2007; ZDNet Research, 2005), it is likely that the new forms of online sociability will increasingly also play an important role in political life. This paper thus attempts to more closely examine the relationship between online social capital and political participation in Singapore. Scholars examining the phenomenon of declining political participation, have taken an interest in the concept of social capital (Putnam, 2000). Social capital refers to the resources accumulated through the relationships among people (Coleman, 1988). The concept is defined by Putnam (2000) as the connections among individuals—social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. In this sense social capital is closely related to what some have called “civic virtue.” The difference is that social capital calls attention to the fact that civic virtue is most powerful when embedded in a dense network of reciprocal social relations, resonating with how the Internet functions. Social capital is also closely related to political participation, although the two concepts are not synonymous. Here, Putnam argues that we must distinguish between political participation—“our relations with political institutions”—and social capital—“our relations with one another” (Putnam, 1995). Although past research is divided on how and to what extent people should participate in politics, scholars generally deem such participation as an essential element of democracy (Teorell, 2006). Today, the importance of civic engagement to global democracy is underscored by the role of active citizenship in attenuating the powerful effects of fear in an age of terrorism and preventive war against terrorism (Barber, 2004). Yet political participation worldwide has been in decline, especially amongst the younger generations (Chan & Wong, 2001; Henn, Weinstein, & Wring, 2002; Zukin, Keeter, Andolina, Jenkins, & Carpini, 2006). The Internet has been viewed as a potential remedy for the problem of declining participation, with some scholars suggesting that the reduced cost, increased convenience, and greater availability of information will serve to promote engagement among people who are already interested and knowledgeable about politics (Bimber, 1999; Norris, 2000). Furthermore, the Internet may offer entirely new opportunities for participation for those who are disinterested and disengaged by offering alternative views, facilitating debate, and encouraging development of new types of social networks (Barber, 2001; Bimber, 1998; Polat, 2005). Studies done in the United States suggest that political importance of the Internet may be particularly accentuated for younger populations who are more likely to be drawn to political information online and who are more likely to reap knowledge and participation benefits from it (see Graber, 2001; Kwak, Poor, & Skoric, 2006; Shah, Kwak, & Holbert, 2001). But, what is the role that the Internet plays in the creation of new forms of social capital and how can these new forms be used to facilitate political participation? According to Resnick (2002), certain technological affordances make the Internet a particularly suitable technology for the generation of social capital. These include the provision of reputational information, vast expansion of social networks, suppression of certain sensory information that may impede cooperation (voice, smell, etc.), maintenance of records of previous interactions and names/roles which promotes collective identity and trust among group members. Indeed, studies suggest that the Internet has been vital in building social capital through the maintenance (Wellman, Boase, & Chen, 2002; Wellman, Quan-Haase, Boase, Chen, Hampton, Diaz, & Miyata, 2003) and creation of new social relationships that help communities and individuals to form and revise identity (Ho, Kluver, & Yang, 2003). For instance, e-mails can be particularly useful in increasing amount of personal communication (Horrigan & Rainie, 2002; Howard, Rainie, & Jones, 2001). Blogs serve many purposes such as enabling self-disclosure in forming online friendships (Goh & Wijaya, 2007), providing an outlet for political activists to air opinions (Ho & Poon, 2006), as well as shaping and constraining the larger political debate by socially constructing an agenda or interpretive frame that acts as a focal point for mainstream media (Drezner & Farrell, 2004). Most recently, studies show that the relationships that are flourishing on social networking sites such as Facebook.com may contribute to the creation of social capital (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2006; Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). With regards to the relationship between social capital and political participation, a study by Lake and Huckfeldt (1998) suggests that politically relevant social capital is generated in personal networks as a by-product of the social interactions with other discussants, and that the increasing levels of social capital enhance the likelihood that a citizen will be engaged in politics. Likewise, Zhang and Chia (2006) found that people's social connectedness enhanced both civic and political participation. In addition, Klesner's study (2004) also supports the argument that social capital is an important factor in encouraging the higher levels of political participation that we generally associate with a richer, holistic democratic experience. However, it has been suggested that these new channels of communication can produce negative social capital as well. Some social networks have been used to mobilize extremists and help terrorists fund and conduct their activities (see Helliwell & Putnam, 2004). In an organizational setting, technologies like instant messaging can lead to higher connectivity and new forms of collaboration, but at the expense of creating greater social distance because employees use the mediated environment as a shield to distance themselves from superiors (Quan-Haase, Cothrel, & Wellman, 2005). Furthermore, while Internet use generally predicted greater social benefits for those with more social support, the benefits accrued largely depended on the extent to which they could leverage online opportunities to enhance their daily lives, making it worse off for those with less social support (Kraut, Kiesler, Boneva, Cummings, Helgeson, & Crawford, 2001). According to Putnam (2000), although social capital is certainly a multidimensional construct, the most important distinction between different types of social capital can be made on the basis of the inclusivity/exclusivity dimension. Some forms of social capital are mainly exclusive and are associated with closely knit homogenous groups, bonded by kinship, ethic, religious or ideological ties. Other forms are more inclusive as they bridge across and provide to and social capital social and support and sense of social capital is characterized by but more networks of can be argued that the a useful for online social capital the Internet, capital more knowledge on public through networking & 2003). 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