Modernisation, Digital Media
Spread, and the Young’s Powerless
Political Participation in South
America
Jéssica Duarte
*
Carla Mendonça
**
Abstract
This article reports a longitudinal study on South American young people’s
democratic attitudes and political participation along with the growth of
digital media use in the region. We tested the association between their
democratic values and political behaviour since the 1980s and increasing
access to digital media since the 1990s. The forty years of the World Values
*
Jéssica Duarte is a doctor in Political Science and a post-doctoral scholar at Federal Uni-
versity of Pernambuco (UFPE). She is a member of the World Values Survey (WVS) and of
the project EL22 of NUPRI-USP/Imakay Research Hub. Her work explores political beha-
viour focused on conservatism and misinformation.
**
Carla Mendonça is a doctor in Social Sciences specialised in Comparative Studies on the
Americas and a bachelors in Communication Sciences. She is a collaborating researcher
at the Electoral Communication Research Group (CEL) at the Postgraduate Programme in
Communication of the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), and she was a World Values
Survey (WVS) post-doctoral scholar in 2017-2018 and in 2020-2021
Código de referato: SP.302.LVI/22
http://dx.doi.org/10.22529/sp.2022.56.03
STUDIA POLITICÆ Número 56 otoño 2022 pág. 35–65
Recibido: 30/05/2022 | Aceptado: 03/09/2022
Publicada por la Facultad de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales
de la Universidad Católica de Córdoba, Córdoba, República Argentina.
36 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
Survey (WVS) database were analysed. We found that young people in Ar-
gentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay have not be-
come more democratic and show stable low levels of political participation
along with increasing socio-economic development index rates and digital
media spread in their countries.
Key words: democratic attitudes - political participation - digital media -
South America young people - WVS
Resumen
Este artículo presenta un estudio longitudinal sobre las actitudes democráti-
cas y la participación política de los jóvenes sudamericanos a lo largo del
proceso de crecimiento del uso de los medios digitales en la región. Se ha
probado la asociación entre sus valores democráticos y su comportamiento
político desde la década de 1980 y el creciente acceso a los medios digi-
tales desde la década de 1990. Se analizaron los cuarenta años de la base
de datos de la Encuesta Mundial de Valores (WVS). Identicamos que los
jóvenes de Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú y Uruguay
no se han vuelto más democráticos y muestran niveles bajos y estables de
participación política a lo largo del aumento de los índices de desarrollo
socioeconómico y la difusión de los medios digitales en sus países.
Palabras clave: actitudes democráticas - participación política - medios de
comunicación digitales - jóvenes de América del Sur - WVS
Introduction
A
re young South Americans becoming more democratic and po-
litically participative along with the popularization of digital
media?
The rise of the internet, in the early 1990s, and of social media, in the early
2000s, besides mobile phones, brought about quite optimistic perspectives
on new possibilities of participative democracy worldwide, especially for the
young. Scholars, policymakers, and social movements, among other social
actors, envisioned new possibilities for democracies coming along with the
spread of a new techno-social system that comprises social processes of cog
-
nition, communication, and cooperation, in Fuchs’s (2017) critical concept
of social media.
This is a well-developed and consolidated discussion indeed, but still far
from being closed. Other authors also argue that the internet and social media
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 37
are harming democracy by facilitating the formation of ideologic bubbles,
hate speech, and the creation and spread of fake news (Morelock & Narita,
2021; Bradshaw & Howard, 2019; Bartlett, 2014).
In this paper, we analyse this phenomenon from the Modernisation Theo
-
ry approach. This theoretical perspective assesses whether economic, so-
cial, and technological advances have led to the advance of democratization
worldwide. Inglehart (2008) argues that modernisation and economic devel-
opment produce cultural changes toward democratic values and self-expres-
sion. He also states that intergenerational value change will occur if younger
generations grow up under different living conditions than those that shaped
older generations.
Within this perspective, we chose to study the relations between digital me
-
dia popularisation with young people’s democratic attitudes and political
behaviour because this cohort has been strongly impacted by this societal
material change during their years of formation as citizens.
We will focus on South American cases. We understand that increasing inter
-
net access in the region should contribute to democracy since it is an import-
ant material resource in our contemporary societies. Internet access should
facilitate people’s access to information.
South America is an important case study due to its complexity. The region
takes in contrasting socio-economic development dynamics: enduringly in
-
creasing development indexes rates, such as literacy, per capita income, and
human development, come along with remaining poverty, social inequality,
and high crime levels among other social, political, and economic issues.
Young people’s disposition for political participation through unconvention
-
al means has been studied worldwide at least since the 1960s (Brussino et al.,
2009). In this twenty-rst century, the internet and social media are expected
to give them new opportunities (Herrera, 2012; Cohen & Kahne, 2012; Ben-
nett et al., 2011).
Pérez Islas (2006) traced the history of the investigation of youth in Latin
America and acknowledges the relevance of Cecilia Braslavsky (1987)’s work.
She identied three rst phases: The rst one consists of essays written from
1930 to 1960. The second one, between 1960 and 1980, was carried out under
a sociological approach predominance and introduced the study of youth as
either citizenship or stratication categories. The third one, from 1982 to 1986,
was regarded as the creation of the International Youth Day, and it included
young people’s political participation in the agenda (Pérez Islas, 2006).
38 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
Arias-Cardona and Alvarado (2015) conducted a literature review on the the-
me aiming to group studies by theoretical similarities. The authors found
three main theoretical perspectives: the bio-psycho developmental, the so
-
cio-historic and the political-cultural. The authors also gure out that many
studies concluded that young people’s relationship with politics requires
transcending the focus on conventional participation because they have ne
-
gative points of view in relation to it.
In South America, scholars have researched young people’s political partici
-
pation at local, regional, and national levels. Zarzuri (2010) identied that,
among young Chileans, more than disenchantment with politics, there is a
disenchantment with a certain way that politics are made. The author found
that rules imposed by the State, such as compulsory voting, do not lead to
young people’s more active participation.
In Brazil, Baquero (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019) studied political culture,
political values, citizenship, political socialization and the internet and new
media, especially among young people in southern Brazil. There is a crisis of
political mediation expressed in an increasing withdrawal of young people
from conventional political mechanisms due to their disillusionment with
politics (Baquero & Baquero, 2012).
With this study, we intend to contribute to the discussion on South American
young people’s political participation from a political-cultural perspective.
We ask whether cultural change toward more democratic attitudes and poli
-
tical participation will be associated with digital media use spread. We aim
to comprehend whether the results corroborate the thesis of economic de-
velopment followed by democratic values spread, or whether young South
Americans raise a different explanatory model. We do not suggest any causal
relation, we are concerned about whether there is any association or predic-
tion capacity.
Our hypotheses propose that: 1) the growing use of digital media by young
South Americans is associated with changes in their political attitudes and
behaviours, and 2) the increasing use of digital media by young South Ame
-
ricans comes along with more democratic attitudes and stronger political
participation.
We follow the UNDESA (2013)’s denition of youth, which “for statistical
purposes, denes ‘youth’, as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24
years, without prejudice to other denitions by the Member States” (p. 1).
This denition is underpinned and enclosed by Niemi and Hepburn (1995)’s
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 39
understanding. They state that the political socialization process is faster and
deeper throughout the period between 14 and 25 years old.
Thus, this article reports a longitudinal study, within which some statistical
tests, using data from the forty years of the WVS collected in countries of the
region in its seven waves. We chose to select all WVS waves aiming at mo
-
nitoring and comparing results among the different periods of the continent’s
economic and digital development.
We analyse data from individuals within the cohort of sixteen to twenty-four
years old from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay,
Bolivia, and Venezuela due to two main reasons: one theoretically based, and
the other due to empirical criteria and research limitations.
Theoretically, we chose cases according to Mill (1886)’s method of diffe
-
rence and recognise that our cases are different from each other, but they
have common conditions for a possible phenomenon occurrence. Our cases
are different regarding democratic development and consolidation, but they
share structural aspects. Those are region, history, and recent economic de-
velopment.
Empirically, these are all the South American countries included in the World
Values Survey (WVS) database that have longitudinal data for this study’s
important variables. The WVS also only interviews individuals aged sixteen
and over.
1. Literature review
Inglehart and Welzel (2009) state that values change from generation to ge
-
neration reects historical changes in the existential conditions of a speci-
c society. Inglehart (2008)’s thesis on modernisation, cultural change, and
democratic values is underpinned by two main hypotheses: 1) the scarcity
hypothesis implies that prolonged periods of high prosperity will tend to en-
courage the spread of postmaterialist and self-expression values and that
enduring economic decline will have the opposite effect, and 2) “the socia-
lization hypothesis which proposes generations maintain values developed
during their adolescent years” (Graaf & Evans, 1996, p. 609). In this sen-
se, Graaf and Evans (1996) highlight that this thesis tackles both individual
(needs and values) and societal (economic development) explanation levels.
In their formative years, individuals tend to adopt values consistent with their
own experiences. This gradual process occurs as a younger generation repla
-
40 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
ces the previous one in the adult population of a society, through an interge-
nerational change of values. Inglehart (2008)’s cohorts and intergenerational
studies point to a gradual process of intergenerational value change asso
-
ciated with socioeconomic development. Increasingly favourable existential
conditions of security and individual autonomy tend to make people value
self-expression (Inglehart & Welzel, 2009).
A major component of the rise of self-expression values is a shift away from
deference to all forms of external authority. Under threat of invasion, internal
disorder or economic collapse, people eagerly seek strong authority gures
that can protect them from danger. Conversely, conditions of prosperity and
security are conducive to the tolerance of diversity in general and major su
-
pport of democracy (Inglehart, 2008).
According to Graaf and Evans (1996):
In addition to these changes in values, it is proposed that because of the
expansion of higher education and the increasingly pervasive contribution
of the mass media more people have acquired the knowledge and oppor-
tunity to engage with political issues on a national scale. It is thus argued
that changing political values and increasing political sophistication are in
the process of altering the nature of politics by creating new, value-based
cleavages that crosscut the old ‘Left-Right’ conicts over the distribution
of material resources. (p. 609)
Inglehart (2008) states that gradual shifts from materialist to postmaterialist
values, when younger birth cohorts replace older ones in the adult popula-
tion, have important implications on orientations onto political participation
and freedom of expression, support for new causes and new types of political
parties.
Thus, an intergenerational change associated with cultural changes, promo
-
ted by increasing levels of existential security, has implications for political
change and tends to produce growing support for democracy.
Grasso (2014) criticises the societal modernisation account, saying it will not
locate generational differences in attitudes towards participation in different
politic-historical socialization contexts for different cohorts. From that point
of view, “certain generations are more likely to engage in specic political
acts than other generations based on the relative importance of different re
-
pertoires of participation in the historical periods in which individuals have
spent the majority of their formative years” (Grasso, 2014, p. 64).
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 41
Does this thesis on the processes that dene participatory behaviour and atti-
tudes towards democracy nd an empirical basis in South America’s socioe-
conomic development indexes and digital media spread, especially among
those who have lived their youth years in the last thirty years?
Modernisation Theory can offer great applicability and relevance to this sub
-
ject matter. However, as previously mentioned, there are alternative explana-
tions. While according to this theoretical approach studying Latin American
young people’s political behaviour can help us to estimate the future environ-
ment for democratic behaviour, the region presents important contradictions
in its socio-economic context, such as the concomitance between economic
development indexes and remaining poverty, inequality, crime levels, and
media monopoly.
1.1 Political participation, the young, and digital media
Almond and Verba (1989) point out that the central issue of politics in the
late twentieth and early twentieth-rst centuries is what cultural content is
emerging around the world. The authors state that Western culture is appa
-
rently spreading rapidly along with the technology through which it ows.
However, they believe that the problem in the content of this emerging cul
-
ture is its political character because although the movement toward techno-
logy and rationality appears uniform throughout the world, the path political
change is taking is less clear. The authors identify participation as one aspect
of this new political culture, but “[…] what the mode of participation will be
is uncertain” (Almond & Verba, 1989, p. 3).
Political participation is any activity that seeks to inuence the political de
-
cision-making process directly or indirectly (Kaase & Marsh, 1979). Con-
ventional political participation is performed, in this matter, by voting, par-
ty afliation and participation in political campaigns (Verba & Nie, 1987).
Unconventional ones occur through political actions that seek to interfere in
politics through non-institutionalized means (Van der Meer et al., 2009), like
participating in political and social movements, signing petitions, engaging
in debates through social media etc.
Until the early 1960s, the concept of political participation circumscribed
voting, campaigning and contact between citizens and public ofcials. In the
late 1960s and early 1970s, it was expanded to include community groups;
direct contacts between citizens, public ofcials, and politicians; protest for
-
ms; and new social movements. In the 1990s, civil activities, such as volun-
42 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
teering and social engagement, were included. Nowadays, ethical consumer
practices have become part of political action (Quintelier & Van Deth, 2014).
“[…] fed through processes of educational enhancement and value change,
the emergence of direct action and its organisational crystallization in the
so-called New Social Movements […] could be interpreted as an extension
of the action repertory of the citizenry”, states Kaase (2010, p. 542).
Cohen and Kahne (2012) propose a new concept of participatory politics
at the beginning of this twenty-rst century. It is one based on peer group
interaction through which individuals and groups seek to exercise their voice
and inuence matters of public interest using digital media tools. Starting an
online political group, writing, and disseminating a post about politics on a
blog, or sharing a video with political content are examples of it.
Quintelier and Van Deth (2014) found that “interest in political affairs, fee
-
ling of being politically efcacious, political condence and support for nor-
ms and values promoting democratic attitudes lead to an increase in political
participation” (p. 155).
1.2 Young people and political participation
Older generations pass on their values to younger ones; individual basic va
-
lues reect the most important conditions of living before adulthood, and
early socialization tends to be more rigid than late ones. This cultural herita-
ge does not dissipate easily, but it can gradually disappear if it is incoherent
with individual experience (Inglehart & Welzel, 2009).
Family, school, groups of friends, media and events are prominent agencies
in the political socialization of young people. Among other issues, they pro
-
vide the potential for change in political attitudes from one generation to the
next, say Niemi and Sobieszek (1977).
Mannheim (1928) argues that young people experiencing the same concrete
historical problems may be said to be part of the same generation. These ex
-
periences crystallise, differentiate generations in the population, and endure
constantly through the life cycles. Thus, historic periods of socialization onto
cohorts are expected to have effects on political attitudes and behaviours of
distinct political generations (Grasso, 2014).
Bennett et al. (2011) stress that the passive culture promoted by television
and the decline of communitarian associations might have led to a genera
-
tional apathy toward politics and public life, and new forms of online civic
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 43
action cannot reverse it. However, this new digital generation seems to pro-
mote new forms of engagement. Thus, Bennett et al. (2011) suggest that the
passive culture accounts for a fragmentation of the old civic order, but social
media can enable civic practices back into political action.
Baquero and Baquero (2012) point out that while formal democracy is stren
-
gthened, there is a crisis of political mediation that is expressed in the increa-
sing withdrawal of young people from conventional political mechanisms
due to their disillusionment with politics.
However, that does not mean that young people are absent from informal
channels of participation. Putnam (2001) argues that “[…] the younger ge
-
neration today is no less engaged than their predecessor but engaged in new
ways” (p. 21). Krischke (2004) also says young people have not fallen into
political apathy but have been investing their political energy in informal
channels of political participation.
Castro (2009) states that the decline of conventional participation is related
to changes in values because the new generations no longer welcome hie
-
rarchical and bureaucratic organisations and prefer unconventional political
experiences.
Agudelo-Ramírez et al. (2013) point to the invisibility of young people’s me
-
aningful actions in the diverse spaces and contexts of their daily lives. They
enjoy different forms of participation, relationships and communications;
collective building; and political understanding. They want to create new
meanings for the public sphere, representing themselves as political subjects
and exercising citizenship in places such as family, groups, community, orga-
nizations, universities, and social activities (Agudelo-Ramírez et al., 2013).
Agudelo-Ramírez et al. (2013) claim that young people re-politicise politics
from the outside. They engage in participation through formal mechanisms,
resignifying concepts and values of such practices since they use them preci
-
sely to transform them. They participate in student representation practices,
municipal youth councils, local organizations, and in systematic election mo-
nitoring initiatives.
They also participate in social networks for political purposes, use infor
-
mation technology as a tool for participation, re-appropriate aesthetic ele-
ments as a possibility for other manifestations, and incorporate what visual
art offers them to promote other ways of life. From the place where mainly
cultural elements play, daily participation with a growing voluntary character
is intensied (Agudelo-Ramírez et al., 2013, p. 595).
44 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
Muñoz (2012) states that, whether twentieth-century youth cultures had ari-
sen in the post-second world war, in the twenty-rst century, they rise under
information and communication technologies. The passage from youth cul
-
tures to cybercultures is a novelty intimately related to an era change and to
the interactive digital culture inuence on young people’s worlds. Their ways
of life are built in environments of multiple convergences.
Arias-Cardona and Alvarado (2015) emphasize that information and com
-
munication technologies became mediators of political processes. Technolo-
gy has made it possible for young people to become involved in new ways in
decisions that are made in their contexts.
Thus, young people’s participation ways are multidimensional, reect diver
-
se causes and efforts, both individual and collective, and are characterized
by multifaceted leadership. They participate in a heterogeneous way, signify
traditional practices, and seize upon cultural elements and markets to wave
diverse political manifestations. It reects complex forms in which young
people inhabit public spaces and are congured as citizens (Agudelo-Ra-
mírez et al., 2013).
Vaccari and Valeriani (2021) argue that “social media are part of the reason
why Western democracies are witnessing an increase in different forms of
political participation, some of which involve citizens who were previously
not deeply engaged in public affairs” (p. 3).
However, Fuchs (2017) criticises scholars’ concepts that “highlight positive
aspects of social media and point out that these media are possible to make
culture and society more democratic” (p. 66). He stresses that “an Internet
that is dominated by corporations that accumulate capital by exploiting and
commodifying users can never, in the theory of participatory democracy, be
participatory and the cultural expressions of it cannot be expressions of par
-
ticipation” (Fuchs, 2017, p. 82).
1.3 South American development since the 1980s
Latin America has experienced important economic, political, and social
changes in the twenty-rst century (Baquero, 2011). To identify these chan
-
ges, we present some indexes of social development in South America since
the 1980s.
1
1
Online analysis can be run at DataBank | World Development Indicators available at
https://databank.worldbank.org/home.
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 45
The rst indicator analyses adult literacy rates, dened by the United Nations
Education, Science and Culture Organization (Unesco) as the percentage of
the population aged fteen years and over able to read and write, though
understanding a simple statement on everyday life. It showed solid progress
between 1980 and 2018. Only Chile and Suriname reported a slight decrease
in the last decade, but both keep 96.4 per cent (Chile) and 94.38 per cent
(Suriname) of their adult population literate. While Guyana currently has the
lower rate (85.64 per cent), the Argentinian rate is 99 per cent. Brazil held the
lowest rate in the region in the 1980s (74.59 per cent) but jumped to 93.23
per cent in the 2010s.
The gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has also increased in all the
countries. Despite shrinking periods from time to time –in 1985, nine out of
the twelve countries suffered shrinkages–, the overall evolution from 1980
to 2019 is positive. The GDP in Guyana had grown seven times since then.
Even Ecuador, which shows the lowest growth, increased it almost three ti
-
mes, as the gure below shows:
Figure 1. GDP per capita (US$, 01/07/2020)
Note. Source: The World Bank
Growing GDP is likely to boost development and we can see this trend from
the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) in the region. It shows
46 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
a continued growth pattern between 1990 and 2018. Venezuela had a 0.45 per
cent decrease in its index during the 2010-2018 period, but its overall growth
was 0.46 per cent. Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay are among the group coun-
tries with very high human development according to rank. Only Guyana
is still among the ones with medium human development, despite it having
evolved 0.79 per cent in these three decades. The others have high human
development indexes (UNDP, 2020).
GINI Indexes’ evolution in South American countries between 2000 and
2018 have not achieved an optimistic level yet but is also quite consistent.
The index measures income inequality on a scale of 0 (perfect equality) to
100. Despite all countries in the region having reduced inequality in these
two last decades, all of them are still above 40, considered a high level of
inequality. Bolivia reported the highest decrease in the period, 19.4 points.
The homicide rate follows a less positive pace between 1990 and 2018 than
that of inequality, according to UNODC.
2
While it decreased signicantly in
Colombia (73.5 to 25.3) and slightly in Argentina and Ecuador, it increased
in Brazil (from 19.7 to 27.4) and in Uruguay (from 6.6 to 12.1). Peru and
Chile show stable indexes. Only Argentina, Chile and Ecuador keep it below
the world mean (between 5.8 and 6.8), while the other countries have shoc
-
kingly high levels of homicides per 100.000 population rates.
1.4 Increasing access to the internet
According to data by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU),
published by The World Bank
3
, all countries in the region have shown cons-
tant internet use growth since 2000. They follow the global trend: almost 50
per cent of the world’s total population was using the internet at the end of
2017.
Chile saw a slight shrinkage in 2017, like Venezuela, in 2016, and Bolivia,
in 2014, had seen. After the boom in 2010, out of the twelve countries, seven
had overcome that world mean by 2017, as shown in gure 2:
2
Online analysis can be run at UNODCDATA | United Nations Ofce on Drugs and Crime
available at https://dataunodc.un.org/content/data/homicide/homicide-rate.
3
Online analysis can be run at DataBank | World Development Indicators available at ht-
tps://databank.worldbank.org/home.
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 47
Figure 2. Individuals using the Internet
(% of countries’ total populations)
Note. Source: ITU/ The World Bank
The World Bank website makes free data available through the TCdata360
initiative.
4
International organisations, such as ITU, United Nations and
World Economic Forum, provide it with indexes that measure access, re-
sources and infrastructure related to the internet all around the world.
Despite the challenges to spread access to new technologies and digital me
-
dia, the region shows signicant development in the last decade. The interna-
tional internet bandwidth (kb/s) per internet user is the sum of the capacity of
all Internet exchanges offering international bandwidth measured in kilobits
per second (kb/s). In Ecuador and Peru, the kb/s use increased more than
four times in those ve years. In Paraguay, Guyana, and Argentina, where the
lower growth rates were reported, it still doubled in the period, but Argentina
already had the highest use rate among the twelve countries in 2012.
A more even trend is found when the percentage of inhabitants who are wi
-
thin range of a mobile cellular signal, irrespective of whether they are subs-
cribers, is measured. By 2016, all the twelve countries had more than 90
4
The World Bank’s TCdata360 initiative is accessible at https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/.
48 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
per cent of the population covered by mobile coverage. Bolivia more than
doubled the range in the period, jumping from 45.9 per cent to 100 per cent.
The percentage of households with personal computers and internet ac
-
cess also increased constantly from 2012 to 2016, but at a slower pace and
showing countries’ asymmetries. In Guyana, the number of houses with per
-
sonal computers and internet access increased more than four times, while
the same growth rate was found in Bolivia for internet access at home. Des-
pite the growth, only in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay more than 50 per cent
of the houses have both resources. In Bolivia, while 34.8 per cent of the hou
-
ses have personal computers, only 17 per cent of them have internet access.
While 67.4 per cent of Uruguayan households have personal computers, only
26.8 per cent in Guyana do. Whether internet access is considered, 57 per
cent of houses in Uruguay have it, facing 17 per cent in Bolivia.
The mobile telephone subscriptions (post-paid and prepaid) per 100 popu
-
lation index considers a subscription to a public mobile telephone service
that provides access to the Public Switched Telephone Network using cellu
-
lar technology. Only Guyana (from 73.6 to 70.5) and Suriname (from 169.6
to 161) reported shrinkages during the period. Furthermore, only in Bolivia
(96.3), Guyana (70.5) and Venezuela (98.9) the index is below 100. The other
nine countries have more per 100 population, with Uruguay reporting 160.7
and Argentina, 158.7.
Despite all the positive indexes described above, it is important to stress that
democracy institutionalization and structural economic reforms in the politi
-
cal arena have not produced signicant effects in the social eld.
Baquero (2011) points out that popular pressures have called for more equa
-
lity in access to politics, more transparency and effectiveness in political
institutions oversight, and corruption eradication. However, he states, Latin
Americans register a disenchantment with politics because they do not per-
ceive the materialization of public policies in conditions that will allow them
to develop their potential.
Besides that, remaining social inequality, poverty, difcult access to health
services, low-quality education and poor working conditions are recorded in
all Latin American countries. They also feed a fear of institutional ruptures
and coups d’état. Baquero (2011) similarly highlights that there is a demand
for public policies on security and crime eradication.
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 49
2. Method
This is a longitudinal analysis of the answers of individuals within the cohort
of sixteen to twenty-four years old using the complete WVS database. We
conduct a longitudinal study according to Hernández-Sampieri et al. (2018)
who state that changes in a dened population or subpopulation should be
monitored over time.
The whole WVS research consists of nationally representative surveys con
-
ducted in almost a hundred countries, using a common questionnaire with hun-
dred-eight enclosed variables. Seven waves had been performed since 1981.
5
We examined the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru, and Uruguay. Bolivia and Venezuela have also been tracked by WVS,
but they lack important variables for this study. Venezuela has not measured
democratic attitudes since 2005, and Bolivia came to participate only in the
last wave.
Our independent variables are those about sources of information: digital
media (e-mail, internet, and mobile phone) and information media (daily
newspaper, radio news and TV news). The dependent ones are those on de
-
mocratic attitudes and participatory behaviour (membership participation
and political action). See table 1 below. Voting was excluded from this last
one since it is compulsory in most South American countries, except for Chi
-
le and Colombia.
6
5
Available at http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSContents.jsp.
6
Cepal, Observatorio de Igualdad de Género. Available at https://oig.cepal.org/es/paises/9/
system
50 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
Table 1. Conceptual denitions
Source of Information
Code Label Operationalization
E248 Information source: daily newspaper All the variables are re
-
corded in ascending or-
der.
After the factorial anal
-
yses, the variables were
summed in their clus-
ters and normalized on a
common scale.
E258 Information source: TV news
E259 Information source: radio news
E260 Information source: mobile phone
E261 Information source: e-mail
E262 Information source: internet
Participatory Behaviour
Code Label Operationalization
A098 Membership: church or religious or
-
ganization
All the variables are re-
corded in ascending or-
der.
After the factorial anal
-
ysis, the variables were
summed in their clus-
ters and normalized on a
common scale.
A099 Membership: sport or recreation
A100 Membership: art, music, educational
A101 Membership: labour unions
A102 Membership: political party
A103 Membership: environmental organi
-
zation
A104 Membership: professional organiza
-
tion
A105 Membership: charitable/humanitarian
organization
E025 Political action: signing a petition
E026 Political action: joining in boycotts
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 51
E027 Political action: attending lawful/
peaceful demonstrations
E028 Political action: joining unofcial
strikes
Democratic attitudes
Code Label Operationalization
E226 Democracy: people choose their lea
-
ders in free elections.
All the variables are re-
corded in ascending or-
der.
After the factorial analy
-
sis, the variables were
summed in their clus-
ters and normalized on a
common scale.
E229 Democracy: civil rights protect peo
-
ple’s liberty against oppression.
E235 Importance of democracy
E236 Democraticness in own country
E117 Political system: having a democratic
political system
Our factorial analysis is detailed in table 2 below and is an exploratory
approach to check the cohesion of the variables and whether it ts our theo
-
retical assumptions. Beyond the variables equal and higher than 0.6, we ac-
cepted the ones close to it due to their theoretical relevance. The variables
Membership of sport or recreation organisation, Membership of church or
religious organisation and Democraticness in own country did not reach any
statistical relevance and had to be rejected.
Then, we gathered them in dimensions, built their means, and created in
-
dexes. Finally, we ran a multiple linear regression to measure the level of
prediction of digital media and information media’s inuence on democratic
attitudes and political behaviours of young South Americans.
52 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
Table 2. Factorial Analysis
Dimension: Factor Loading
Source of Information 1 2
Email ,842
Internet ,821 -,343
Mobile phone ,758 -,302
Radio news ,358 ,659
TV news ,655
Daily newspaper ,405 ,635
Participatory Behaviour 1 2
Membership of professional organisation ,737
Membership of environmental organisation ,725
Membership of charitable/humanitarian organisation ,707
Membership of political party ,676
Membership of labour unions ,659
Membership of art, music, educational organisation ,572
Membership of sport or recreation organisation ,518
Membership of church or religious organisation ,424
Attending lawful/peaceful demonstrations ,827
Joining unofcial strikes ,767
Joining in boycotts ,704
Signing a petition ,676
Democratic Attitudes 1
Democracy: People choose their leaders in free
elections.
,722
Democracy: Civil rights protect people’s liberty
against oppression.
,691
Importance of democracy ,655
Political system: Having a democratic political system ,596
Democraticness in own country ,291
Notes. Colombia n = 2584; Ecuador n = 497; Peru n = 1572; Brazil n = 1560; Chile n =
1113; Argentina n = 1360; Uruguay n = 411 (all waves).
Extrac. Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Oblimin with Kaiser
Normalization.
Source information: KMO Test: ,686 and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity Sig.= 0,000. Partici-
patory Behaviour: KMO Test: ,829 and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity Sig.= 0,000. Democrat-
ic Attitudes: KMO Test: ,660 and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity Sig.= 0,000
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 53
3. Results
We found information on the use of media by young South Americans in the
last two WVS waves (2010-2014 and 2017-2020). It gives us an understand
-
ing of how these data behaved throughout the last decade according to the
interviewees’ answers.
As the gure below shows, the daily newspapers, television and radio news
consumption mean is shrinking in all countries - Uruguay had not had the last
wave conducted. We found dramatically growing percentages of individuals
who never read a daily newspaper, followed by a decrease in daily reading.
Data on television and radio news consumption are also decreasing but show
less dramatic disparities.
Figure 3. Information Media Consumption (Mean)
Note. 0 = never, 4 = daily
Digital media (e-mail, mobile and internet) use shows an uneven pace among
the countries in this last decade. Considering the mean, while its use increa-
sed in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru from one wave to the other, it shrank in
Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. When we analyse percentages in each country,
Chile is the only one where the internet, email and mobile phones have their
use by young people shrinking altogether.
54 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
Figure 4. Use of Digital Media (Mean)
Note. 0 = never, 4 = daily
Democratic attitudes have been measured since 1994 in South American
countries. We can see in gure 5 that the countries show some stability and
similar levels of democratic attitudes in their means throughout these two and
a half decades. According to the mean, we assume that only Argentines and
Brazilians show little change toward more democratic attitudes since 1994.
Figure 5. Democratic Attitudes (Mean)
Note. 1 = no democratic at all, 10 = very democratic
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 55
Analysing participative behaviour, we can see that membership participation
indexes are poor in all countries since 1981, and there is an even decrease in
Brazil, Peru, and Uruguay. Argentina and Chile register stable levels. Colom-
bia and Ecuador show growth in this dimension in the last wave, but still at
low levels of participation:
Figure 6. Membership Participation (Mean)
Note. 0 = no participative at all, 2 = very participative
Still considering participative behaviour, despite being also low and uneven
across the waves, political action shows higher levels in all countries. While
the means increased in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru since 1981, it
shrunk in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay:
56 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
Figure 7. Political Action (Mean)
Note. 0 = no participative at all, 10 = very participative
3.1 Theoretical model lack of predictability
Through a multiple linear regression, we veried if information media con
-
sumption and digital media use were able to predict democratic attitudes,
membership participation, and political action.
We run six different models to test comparatively if there were relations be
-
tween those variables: 1) Use of Digital Media/Democratic Attitudes, 2) Use
of Digital Media/Membership Participation, 3) Use of Digital Media/Politi-
cal Action; and 4) Information Media Consumption/Democratic Attitudes, 5)
Information Media Consumption/Membership Participation, 6) Information
Media Consumption/Political Action.
When we analysed democratic attitudes, we found that our model is statisti
-
cally signicant (F(2, 154608 ) =177,894; p < 0,001; R
2
= 0,002). However,
digital media use = -0,22; t = -8,210; p < 0,001) and information media
consumption (β = 0,49; t = 18,558; p < 0,001) together do not predict demo-
cratic attitudes. The model estimates only 0.002 per cent (R
2
) of democratic
attitudes variation.
The model for political action is also statistically signicant (F(2, 146614) =
6900,840; p < 0,001; R
2
= 0,086). Again, digital media use = 0,225; t =
86,925; p < 0,001) and information media consumption = ,137; t = 52,862;
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 57
p < 0,001) together do not predict political action. Like the model of the de-
mocratic attitude, the possibility of estimation is close to zero (R
2
= 0,086).
Finally, membership participation is also statistically signicant (F(2,154892)
= 2779,287; p < 0,001; R
2
= 0,035 ). Digital media use (β 0,134=; t = 51,843;
p < 0,001) and information media consumption = 0,98; t = 37,769; p <
0,001) also do not have prediction ability. Again, the possibility of estimation
is close to zero (R
2
= 0,035).
4. Discussion
Despite distinctive national trajectories and asymmetries, common broad
socio-historic periods and social-economic data trends shared by all South
American countries allow us to consider them an exploratory place for this
study.
Since the 1980s, literacy, GDP per capita, and HDI have increased signi
-
cantly in all the countries - our cases record high HDI. GINI Index is still
high but shows decreasing rates. According to the World Bank, since 1990,
information and communication infrastructure and use have spread in all the
countries, following the global pace - internet use growth is constant since
2000, for example.
Those are important material conditions for individuals who passed through
that while in their formative years.
Has this process been followed by cultural change towards more democratic
attitudes and political participation though?
Our rst hypothesis proposes that the growing use of digital media by young
South Americans is associated with changes in their political attitudes and
behaviours. However, our multiple linear regression analysis results show
little prediction ability on the relations between digital media use and infor
-
mation media consumption and democratic attitudes and political behaviour.
Digital media use by individuals in the database has increased in Colombia,
Ecuador, and Peru indeed, but decreased in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, se
-
parating the countries into two opposite trends. Then, we can also state that
there are changes in democratic attitudes and political behaviours, but they
show slow and low indexes of change: democratic attitudes means have been
between 7.34 and 8.83; membership is around 0.25; and political action be
-
tween 0.5 and 1.0.
58 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
According to our second hypothesis, increasing use of digital media by young
South Americans comes along with more democratic attitudes and stronger
political participation. The growing use of digital media is recorded in Co-
lombia and Ecuador, and young people have become more participative there
indeed. On the other hand, it decreases in Brazil and Argentina, but their
young nationals show a change toward more democratic attitudes since 1994.
When we consider active members of political parties, a conventional sort
of political participation, slightly more young people are participating only
in Chile and Ecuador. However, it is plummeting in all the other countries,
and it hardly reaches 3.6 per cent of the individuals in Ecuador, the highest
percentage among the cases. Membership’s mean in general is shrinking.
These data underpin the literature referred to in this article, which has re
-
corded young people’s disaffection with conventional and institutionalized
political participation. Political action, conversely, driven by digital media
propagation in the last decade, is the only dimension where we can nd some
increase.
Despite the data discussed above, digital media is spread, and, in the last
wave, mobile phones were used by 68.8 per cent of Colombians, 71.1 per
cent of Brazilians, and 66 per cent of Ecuadorians. Brazilians (74.4 per cent),
Colombians (73.2 per cent) and Ecuadorians (73.6 per cent) were also the
countries where more young people use the internet.
Chile is worth being highlighted, since it puts our hypotheses to the test,
reversing them. It is the only country where the use of the internet, email
and mobile phones by young people is equally decreasing. At the same time,
three out of four democratic attitudes measured are shrinking among them,
and they have been less participative since 1981 too. Socioeconomic ma
-
cro data are positive in the country, despite literacy showing a very slight
shrinkage from 2000-2009 to 2010-2018.
Modernisation Theory proposes that conditions of prosperity and security are
conducive to a tolerance of democracy and self-expression values. Richer
societies are much more likely to be democratic than poor ones, and, under
economic collapse threatening, for example, people may be willing to submit
to authoritarian rule.
It is mandatory to consider here that, despite showing conditions of prosperi
-
ty, South American societies are in varying developing stages, asymmetrical
among each other. For young people, this can be confusing: while there is a
continental peace zone, domestic conicts and urban violence makes them
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 59
feel unsafe, when not directly impacted by it. Inequality has reduced, but
it still shows up very often in young people’s experiences with each other.
Democratization has advanced, but corruption, political parties’ failures, and
coups d’état challenge their values.
Along with that, literacy, higher education, and mass media are supposed
to bring knowledge, information, and opportunities to engage with politi
-
cal issues on a national scale. Instead, the region’s information media sys-
tems and their practices and monopolies are evenly and sharply losing young
people’s interest. Furthermore, individuals’ accomplishments in literacy and
education do not guarantee their access to political decision institutions and
processes.
Political action, such as participation in demonstrations, has not been pro
-
perly addressed by political institutions, frustrating people’s attempts at par-
ticipation and feelings of political efcacy and condence. Despite Chile’s
recent political changes achieved also based on people’s and young people’s
demonstrations, we did not nd it as a South American pattern.
All the above-mentioned, do not offer proper conditions for signicant cultu
-
ral change, and that is what data show.
Conclusion
We intended to explore the analytic potential of longitudinal and generational
data as a powerful tool for the analysis of cultural change towards democratic
and self-expression values among South American young people since 1981,
considering the spread of digital media since the early 1990s.
We found that, according to WVS data, democratic attitudes and political par
-
ticipation are not associated with the spreading use of digital media among
those young people. There are subtle cultural changes, but they are low and
uneven if compared to the pace of media infrastructure and use advances in
societies. They show more stability than a change in those four decades.
It is important to note that infrastructure improvement and access to digital
media growth in the continent have occurred in the last two decades. Thus,
only young people who participated in the last WVS wave grew up in their
childhood and adolescence under the full inuence of digital media.
This study’s results dialogue with socialisation theory in considering that
individuals tend to maintain political culture patterns developed up to ado
-
60 STUDIA POLITICÆ Nº 56 otoño 2022
lescence (Graaf & Evans, 1996, p. 609). These young people’s socialisation
processes were impacted by values and attitudes transmitted by a generation
that lived in a non-democratic context, in its cultural and political terms. La-
tin America has a history of alternations between democratic and authorita-
rian regimes and low levels of democratic attitudes and political participation
(Baquero, 2011).
On the other hand, Modernisation Theory proposes that better living con
-
ditions than those that shaped older generations lead to self-expression and
post-modern values and that favourable existential conditions of security and
individual autonomy tend to make people value self-expression (Inglehart
& Welzel, 2009). Our study suggests that Modernisation Theory better ts
richer societies, where this approach was developed and is still based.
South American societies are recording levels of prosperity, but they are still
developing socio-economic and political conditions. It is possible to say that
South American countries have not yet reached all the basic conditions for a
full and autonomous life.
The Modernisation Theory thesis shows itself somewhat limited in the re
-
gional context. It does not offer tools to analyse the diversity of political
experiences across the region like the civil war in Colombia, dictatorship
and democratization in the Southern Cone and Brazil, and the alternation
between right-wing and left-wing neo-populist governments across the con-
tinent. Prosperity has risen, but democratic attitudes and participation do not
follow similar patterns in such diverse political contexts.
Apparently, more important than each country’s position in the economic
development ranking has been the prevalence of its high levels of social in
-
equality, poverty, and crime despite the increase in economic indexes such as
GDP, or human indexes such as HDI and literacy rate.
An important concern is the actual effect of increased literacy rates, which
should promote advances in democratic attitudes and behaviour in a context
where the media is explored by monopolies and ideologically. Furthermore,
urban violence, economic crisis, political instabilities, and broad changes in
political parties and their relationships with citizens are some of the circum
-
stances people face in their daily lives.
Finally, despite theoretical perspectives on the possibilities promoted by
greater access to the internet and the advance in technological infrastructure
reported in South America, a use reduction was reported in Brazil, Chile, and
JÉSSICA DUARTE Y CARLA MENDONÇA 61
Argentina in the last decade - despite it not affecting the high rates of use on
the continent. Anyway, it is possible to better understand why the averages
and statistical tests for the region did not result as expected.
This article brings some contributions to theoretical perspectives on young
people’s political-cultural behaviours and attitudes. In general, it was not
possible to identify a clear change in the dimensions over time, nor to ob
-
serve whether small changes occurred to congure a movement towards an
increase in democratic attitudes and participatory behaviour. On the contrary,
we can see more clearly the variables’ stability.
Besides learning from the dissonance between literature and research results,
it is important to emphasize some of this study’s limitations.
First, most countries in South America have mandatory voting which impac
-
ted our analysis of political behaviour. This does not allow measurements
and comparison of forms of unconventional participation with the main form
of conventional participation, hindering the evaluation of change in one type
of behaviour in relation to the other.
The database also brings its limitation. Data on media use and consumption
were collected only in the last two WVS waves (2010-2014 and 2017-2020).
Besides that, digital media use only refers to e-mail, mobile, and the internet.
There are no data on social media use.
We also missed information about Uruguay, which has not had the last wave
conducted; Venezuela, which has not measured democratic attitudes since
2005; and Bolivia, which came to participate only in the last wave.
Finally, we recognise the limitations of quantitative research in the study
of young people’s political participation. While the quantitative data macro
approach can help us to understand what has happened within this population
in general, especially longitudinally, qualitative research can bring insights
into how young people are creating their ways to make politics and change it.
New studies, based on participatory democracy theory and mixed methods
are welcome to better understand the future to come in the region.
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