Date of Award
Spring 5-2019
Degree Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs
First Advisor
Marek Steedman
Advisor Department
Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs
Abstract
Social media has taken the world and compressed it into a single button for all to access. As tactics and protocol has already changed, social media has reached its invisible hand into modern U.S. politics and has altered the landscape of political action. Through surveys, article analysis, and social media observation, this study examined how social media has changed modern civic engagement, if social media can even be considered civic ‘engagement’, and how it has separated itself from ‘traditional’ civic engagement. Through previous literature and a conducted survey, the finding of this study suggest that social media not only positively affects civic engagement and those politically engaging, but also creates opportunities for community that result in meaningful physical political action. As social media will continue to grow in American political culture, it is important to understand social media’s future in politics and to learn how to effectively use social media for causes, agendas, candidates, and other political purposes.
Copyright
Copyright for this thesis is owned by the author. It may be freely accessed by all users. However, any reuse or reproduction not covered by the exceptions of the Fair Use or Educational Use clauses of U.S. Copyright Law or without permission of the copyright holder may be a violation of federal law. Contact the administrator if you have additional questions.
Recommended Citation
Scott, Hannah, "Character Count or Vote Count: How Social Media Has Shaped Modern Politics and Challenged the Meaning of Civic Engagement" (2019). Honors Theses. 634.
https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/634