POSC 1000 Introduction to Politics

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POSC 1000 Introduction to Politics

• Russell Alan Williams

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Post-Election Panel Discussion

• Who won the 2011 NL election, who lost, and why?
  Panelists will begin with brief opening
  statements followed by questions from the
  audience.
• Chris ONeill-Yates, senior reporter, CBC
• David Cochrane, provincial affairs reporter, CBC
• Lana Payne, president, NL Federation of Labour
• Tim Powers, vice-president, Summa Communications
• Wednesday, Oct. 12, 730-900pm
• Engineering lecture theatre (EN-2006), MUN
• Open to the public Free parking in lot 16

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• PART TWO POLITICAL PARTICIPATION BEHAVIOR
• Unit Four Political Culture (and skipping
  ahead to talk about media!!!!)
• Mintz, Chapters 6 (and 9!!!)
• Outline
• Introduction Political Culture
• Political Socialization and Participation
• Changing Values?
• The Role of the Media
• Political Problems of Mass Media
• Changing Technology

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1) Introduction

• Political Culture General political values and
  beliefs that are widely held in within a
  community
• Specific to each social setting
• Assumed to impact politics public policy
• Societal aggregation of political ideologies
• E.g. US traditionally seen as having more liberal
  political culture then Canada
• Limited government
• Pluralistic participatory democracy
• Canadians brought more conservative attitudes to
  the new world then Americans . . . .
• Yet, demographically the two countries are so
  similar, so why different political cultures?

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• Core aspects of political culture
• a) Democratic values
• E.g. Anglo-American world expects high level of
  participation
• b) Views of governments and politicians
• E.g. Anglo-American countries more negative
• Attitudes towards incumbent governments
• c) Political interest and knowledge
• E.g. Can vary from one community to another

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2)Political Socialization Participation

• Socialization Process by which values,
  political ideologies and political culture are
  transmitted to citizens.
• May explain why political cultures are different
• Mechanisms
• Education system
• Governments
• Families? Considerable debate about families . .
  .
• The Catholic voter hypothesis ?
• More impact on Political Culture than Political
  Ideologies
• E.g. Political Efficacy Belief individuals
  have on whether they can effect what governments
  do
• Political Parties?
• Media !!!!!

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• Socialization . . . Example the Turnout
  Crisis
• Voter turnout lower AND declining in Canada
• Canadian Federal elections (1945-2000)
• Turnout very low as a of population in Canada

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• Socialization . . . Example the Turnout
  Crisis
• Most noticeable amongst young voters
• Perceived importance of voting by age cohorts
• Producing a lost generation of voters . . . ?
• Question Why dont young people vote?

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• Explanations
• Wisdom young voters see strategic realities
• E.g. Political Efficacy
• E.g. Electoral system problems
• E.g. Relates to possible Generational Effect
  Effect that a different generation can have on
  its members attitudes will persist over time
• E.g. Current youth still participate, just less
  likely to vote . . .
• Life Cycle Effect Age effects ones attitudes
  and behavior
• E.g. People become more conservative as they get
  older
• This is not new - young people never tend to vote!

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• Explanations
• Socialization Youth are not trained to vote
• Role of media?
• Decline of political parties?
• Decline of civic culture?
• E.g. Bowling Alone hypothesis (Putnam)
• May suggest our political culture is changing
  socialization is not same on participation

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3) Changing Values

• Political cultures and ideologies change over
  time . . .
• Materialism ? Post-materialism
• Ideologies were traditionally materialist
  focused on economic benefits for different groups
• Postmaterialist Theory Political values
  changing because younger generations grew up in
  era of prosperity since WWII
• Less concerned about economic security
• More highly educated

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• Increases support for Postmaterialist Values
• Human rights, civil liberties etc
• Environment
• Evidence?
• Question Does this explain the turnout crisis?
• E.g. Party politics and platforms not responding
  to postmaterialist values

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4) The Role of the Media

• Three perspectives on the media in Politics
• Libertarian Perspective Media should be free
  from government regulation
• Social Responsibility Perspective Media has a
  responsibility to the publics common good
• Free media bad information
• Need for regulation and public broadcasters
• E.g. CBC

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• Perspectives on the media
• Dominant Ideology Perspective Media promotes
  values of the powerful who benefit from status
  quo
• E.g. Noam Chomsky
• Media in liberal democracy is propaganda
• Need for wider interpretations

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5) Political Problems of Mass Media

• Has a large influence on politics . . . though
  not in traditional way?
• Hypodermic Model Belief media messages have a
  direct effect on beliefs and behavior of public
• Problem Pre-existing political values effect our
  response to a story
• Minimal Effects Model Through selective
  attention, individuals filter out messages they
  dont want to hear
• Media reinforces what people already believe
• Either way, this is bad because it means we are
  not forming opinions based on facts about a
  public issue . . .

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• b) Ownership concentration - E.g. Rogers
  Communications
• Traditional Media
• 3 National TV Networks (CHUM, Sportsnet and TSC)
• 62 Magazines (5 of the 10 top selling)
• E.g. MacLean's
• 35 Cable TV services
• 29 Radio stations
• 8 of Canadas largest Daily newspapers
• New Media
• Simpatico
• Rogers ATT Wireless
• 240 Video stores in Canada
• Risk Most information provided by few sources

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• c) Ideological bias
• Partisan political bias . . .
• E.g. Italy and Berlusconi
• Glen Beck
• The news we dont hear . . . .
• Examples?
• Stories on Media concentration!
• d) Conflicts of Interest
• Do media outlets protect their advertisers?

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• Political media and entertainment
• Infotainment The merging of information and
  entertainment in news and public affairs
• Ratings more important then helping people
  evaluate public policy
• E.g. Talk radio - VOCM

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• f) From information to framing . . . .
• Framing Selecting some aspects of a story to
  promote a particular interpretation of events
• Conveys a moral judgment rather then informs the
  viewer of the facts
• E.g. 2008 NDP Pot Candidates
• Or, makes a story more entertaining at the
  expense of good information
• E.g. Reporting of Political Polls and the
  electoral horse race E.g. http//www.cbc.ca/new
  s/canada/nlvotes2011/story/2011/09/30/nl-election-
  poll-930.html

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• g) Political manipulation of the media
• News management Attempting to control and
  shape the presentation of the news in order to
  affect public opinion in desired ways
• Try to take advantage of
• Agenda-Setting Effect The role of the media in
  influencing what the public thinks are political
  priorities
• Priming The role of the media in impacting the
  criteria by which people judge events
• Techniques
• Press release journalism, Spin, Leaking and
  un-attributed sources
• Risk Modern politics priming and spin?
• Risk The drinking your own bathwater problem

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6) Changing Technology the Media

• How has the internet changed this?
• Two views
• It promotes a more libertarian view of media
  impacts on politics more voices in politics
  (libertarian perspective)
• Changes little
• Internet even more irresponsible (Social
  Responsibility Perspective)
• Internet just a different medium for same mass
  media companies (Dominant Ideology Perspective)

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7) For next time

• Unit Five Political Parties
• Required Reading
• Mintz, Chapter 7.