Building a typology of young people’s conventional and online political participation: A randomized mobile phone survey in Hong Kong, China

ABSTRACT

Previous studies of the impact of social media on youth’s participation in politics are largely inconclusive. It is partly attributable to a diverse conceptualization of political participation and media use. Using a holistic definition of political participation and an analytical approach of building a typology of political participation, this study constructed a four-group typology for young people’s political participation in a randomized mobile phone interview with 672 Hong Kong respondents aged 20–29 years. Four groups were identified: critical citizens (14%); modestly politically active nonvoters (15%); voters (29%); and disengaged individuals (42%). The respondents’ media use and political characteristics were also examined. The study suggests that the theoretical relationship between political participation and new media use should be contextualized into a specific dimension of political activities and a definite group of individuals.

KEYWORDS:

• Hong Kong
• mobile phone survey
• online media
• political participation
• typology
• youth

Additional information

Funding

This research is part of the study on “A Study on Understanding our Young Generation” supported by the Central Policy Unit of the Hong Kong Government of Special Administrative Region. It is also partly funded by the Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research, The University of Hong Kong.

Notes on contributors

King-wa Fu

King-wa Fu is an associate professor in the Journalism and Media Studies Center at the University of Hong Kong. His research interests include new media and political participation, computational social sciences, health communication, and young people’s Internet use.

Paul W. C. Wong

Paul W. C. Wong is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong with research interests in suicide prevention, mental health promotion and intervention, and youth development.

Y. W. Law

Y. W. Law is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include mental health and social service utilization, pathway to care, and social work interventions for cyber youth.

Paul S. F. Yip

Paul S. F. Yip is the director of the Center for Suicide Research and Prevention and a professor in the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong.