The Impact of Internet Use on Left-Right Political
Identification
Agnes
Student Number:
Research Methods
Paper 1
Tutorial 8
Tutor: Roberto Barbosa de Andrade Aragao
22/10/20
Word Count: 2988
1
, Introduction
Political communication is a rapidly expanding field of study (Chadwick and Howard 2009:
2). The internet specifically is hoped to have a positive effect on the state of democracy,
possibly helping to smoothen out some of the rougher edges we experience in politics
(Dahlgren 2006). Today the internet is used for multiple different political purposes, such as
protest networks and activism, as well as virtual campaigning and recruitment (Chadwick and
Howard 2009: 29). In this sense, it goes without saying that the internet plays a crucial role in
modern day politics and so research on its impact on political institutions proves to be
imperative. What is also vital to research – especially in the context of democracy – is how the
internet has an impact on individuals and their politics. This paper will look at the effect that
internet use has on the politics of individuals in the Netherlands, trying to answer the question
of how the frequency of internet use affects left-right identification.
Theory
There are a number of different ways to answer the question posed above and many factors that
could be explored. For example, it is possible that the living situation of an individual plays a
role in the relationship between internet use and left-right identification. Further, political trust
and unemployment can also easily be theoretically linked to an individual’s placement on the
left-right scale. Due to the vast amounts of possibilities for influencing factors on the
relationship between frequency of internet use and placement on the left-right scale, four main
ideas are hypothesised for this paper.
The first hypothesis is that higher frequency of internet use makes an individual place
more towards the right on the left-right scale. This comes from the fact that, despite the internet
often being used for political movements linked to the left, it has been found that the internet
is often dominated by right-wing groups who believe they need to spread their own political
information online in order to combat “fake news” (Schradie 2019). So, it is hypothesised that
an individual who uses the internet more frequently will be influenced by the dominant right-
wing groups and hence position themselves further towards the right on the left-right scale.
The second hypothesis is that individuals who live in big cities use the internet more
and are more likely to place towards the right on the left-right scale. This is based on the
assumption that individuals who live in urban areas have better and more frequent access to
the internet than individuals in rural areas. It is also based on the first hypothesis, that frequent
use of the internet makes an individual lean towards right-wing politics.
2
Identification
Agnes
Student Number:
Research Methods
Paper 1
Tutorial 8
Tutor: Roberto Barbosa de Andrade Aragao
22/10/20
Word Count: 2988
1
, Introduction
Political communication is a rapidly expanding field of study (Chadwick and Howard 2009:
2). The internet specifically is hoped to have a positive effect on the state of democracy,
possibly helping to smoothen out some of the rougher edges we experience in politics
(Dahlgren 2006). Today the internet is used for multiple different political purposes, such as
protest networks and activism, as well as virtual campaigning and recruitment (Chadwick and
Howard 2009: 29). In this sense, it goes without saying that the internet plays a crucial role in
modern day politics and so research on its impact on political institutions proves to be
imperative. What is also vital to research – especially in the context of democracy – is how the
internet has an impact on individuals and their politics. This paper will look at the effect that
internet use has on the politics of individuals in the Netherlands, trying to answer the question
of how the frequency of internet use affects left-right identification.
Theory
There are a number of different ways to answer the question posed above and many factors that
could be explored. For example, it is possible that the living situation of an individual plays a
role in the relationship between internet use and left-right identification. Further, political trust
and unemployment can also easily be theoretically linked to an individual’s placement on the
left-right scale. Due to the vast amounts of possibilities for influencing factors on the
relationship between frequency of internet use and placement on the left-right scale, four main
ideas are hypothesised for this paper.
The first hypothesis is that higher frequency of internet use makes an individual place
more towards the right on the left-right scale. This comes from the fact that, despite the internet
often being used for political movements linked to the left, it has been found that the internet
is often dominated by right-wing groups who believe they need to spread their own political
information online in order to combat “fake news” (Schradie 2019). So, it is hypothesised that
an individual who uses the internet more frequently will be influenced by the dominant right-
wing groups and hence position themselves further towards the right on the left-right scale.
The second hypothesis is that individuals who live in big cities use the internet more
and are more likely to place towards the right on the left-right scale. This is based on the
assumption that individuals who live in urban areas have better and more frequent access to
the internet than individuals in rural areas. It is also based on the first hypothesis, that frequent
use of the internet makes an individual lean towards right-wing politics.
2
