Diverse Dimensions
Raising Political Interest and Engagement: The Role of Education and Socioeconomic Factors in Youth Engagement View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yvonne Herzig Gainsford, Amina Ovcina Cajacob
The «Politics for all - bridging the sociodemographic divide»-project analyses the causes of political disinterest among children and young people. This multi-stage project aims to motivate young people to participate in politics in the long term. A central component of the project is developing a serious game that aims to promote intrinsic motivation for political participation in a playful way. Studies show that people with a higher level of education and higher income tend to be more politically active (Bundesamt für Statistik, 2019). This unequal participation can be attributed back to the socioeconomic background, which largely determines how people experience and access politics. The theoretical basis of this study is Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien’s (1970) knowledge gap hypothesis, which states that access to knowledge is unevenly distributed across the population. People with a higher socioeconomic status and better education generally have more access to information, especially through the mass media. As a first step, a quantitative online survey of Swiss children and adolescents was undertaken in March 2024, yielding 865 valid questionnaires. A survey on various aspects of political participation and media use was conducted to explore possible causes of political disinterest among children and young people, particularly in a socio-economic context. The survey results show that the sociodemographic background plays an important role in political participation. In comparison, young people with a lower socioeconomic status show less interest in political participation.
"I Would Not Feel Boxed In": A Phenomenological Exploration of Black Women's Media Experiences and Introduction of Black Pro Social Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Leaf Seeney
This phenomenological study aims to empower the voices of Black women in America by discovering what meaning they ascribe to the experience of coming in contact with media portrayals of themselves. Building on existing research on counteracting media stereotypes and reducing deleterious outcomes, this study provides critical insights into the lived experiences of Black women, shedding new light on strategies to challenge stereotypes and promote positive outcomes. The essence of semi-structured interviews with 10 participants revealed a fervent desire for diverse and nuanced portrayals, evoking feelings of freedom and not being “boxed in.” Our research introduces the concept of Black Pro Social Media, defined as Black produced content that fosters and promotes positive racial identity, self-concepts, and ingroup attitudes. Key findings draw attention to the perpetuating effects of media stereotypes and undersscore the influential power Black media producers possess to combat stereotype-related harms. Given our study findings, we encourage Black content creators to take into consideration a collective effort to promote counter-stereotypical representations of Black women.
Featured A Semiotic Approach to New Forms of Résistance in the AI Era
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gabriel A. Medina-Aguilar
There’s been a debate concerning the epistemological opposition between Semiotics and Semiology. The first one appears to give light to linguistic based problems, while the second one appears to be useful in a wider range of analysis. This work proposes to take both schools of thought in order to find how AI algorithms encounter a semiotic frontier in which profound forms of human communication can resist their exploitation into commercial data. Under a principle called “The Depeche Mode Hypothesis”, this work explains how neuroscience help us to understand the fundamentals of communication and their potential to explore the political dimension of non-linguistic brain activity within new discussions about Digital Cultures.
