A number of scholars have noted a digital skill divide among racial and ethnic groups in the United States (e.g. Hargittai, 2002). The ability to leverage information communication technologies (ICTs) in productive ways has been linked to greater levels of prodemocratic attitudes and behaviors (Horrigan, Wellman, & Rainie, 2006; Valenzuela, Park, & Kee, 2009; Vitak et al., 2011). However, no work to date has explored how this relationship between digital skills and political behavior is mediated by racial and ethnic identity. Using an ordered logistic regression to analyze a 2010 PEW data set of social media use, we test the proposition that proficiency in digital skills enhances generalized trust among Latinos and African Americans. We find that the acquisition of digital skills is associated with generalized trust for African Americans but not for Latinos or Anglo-Americans. Our work suggests that ICTs in general and digital skills in particular might provide a distinct pathway to enhance generalized trust for African Americans, a key precondition for civic engagement for historically marginalized groups in the U.S. society. We discuss the implications of this research for enhancing generalized trust among historically marginalized groups in the United States.
AlesinaA.La FerraraE., (2002). Who trusts others?Journal of Public Economics, 85, 207–234.
2.
BaierA. (1986). Trust and antitrust. Ethics, 96(2), 231–260.
3.
BarghJ. A.McKennaK. Y.FitzsimonsG. M. (2002). Can you see the real me? Activation and expression of the “true self” on the Internet. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 33–48.
4.
BenklerY. (2007). The wealth of networks: How social production transforms markets and freedom. New Heaven, CT: Yale University Press.
5.
BestS. J.KruegerB. S. (2006). Online interactions and social capital distinguishing between new and existing ties. Social Science Computer Review, 24(4), 395–410.
6.
BurkeM.KrautR.MarlowC. (2011). Social capital on Facebook: Differentiating uses and users. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vancouver, Canada.
7.
DunbarR. (1991). Functional significance of social grooming in primates. Folia Primatologica, 57, 121–131.
8.
ChávezM.WamplerB.BurkhartR. E. (2006). Left out: Trust and social capital among migrant seasonal farmworkers. Social Science Quarterly, 87, 1012–1029.
9.
ChristakisN. A.FowlerJ. (2009). Connected: The surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Co.
10.
GlaeserE. G.LaibsonD.ScheinkmanJ. A.SoutterC. L. (2000). Measuring Trust. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 65, 811–846.
11.
de ZúñigaG H.JungN.ValenzuelaS. (2012). Social media use for news and individuals’ social capital, civic engagement and political participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17, 319–336.
12.
EvelandW. P.JrMartonK.SeoM. (2004). Moving beyond 'just the facts': The influence of online news on the content and structure of public affairs knowledge. Communication Research, 31, 82–108.
13.
FeezellJ. T.ConroyM.GuerreroM. (2009). Facebook is…fostering political engagement: A study of online social networking groups and offline participation. APSA 2009 Toronto Meeting Paper, Canada.
14.
HargittaiE. (2002). Second-level digital divide: Differences in people’s online skills. First Monday, 7(4).
15.
HorriganJ.WellmanB.RainieL. (2006). The strength of internet ties. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
16.
InglehartR. (1999). Trust, well-being and democracy. In WarrenM. (Ed.), Democracy and trust (pp. 88–120). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
17.
JenningsM. K.ZeitnerV. (2003). Internet use and civic engagement: A longitudinal analysis. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 67, 311–334.
18.
JohnsonT.KayeB. K. (2003). Around the world wide web in 80 ways: How motives for going online are linked to internet activities among politically interested internet users. Social Science Computer Review, 21, 304–325.
19.
Jones-CorreaM. (1998). Between two nations: The political predicament of Latinos in New York City. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
20.
KenskiK.StroudN. J. (2006). Connections between Internet use and efficacy, knowledge, and participation. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 50, 173–192.
21.
KiecoltK. J.MorrisE.ToussaintJ. (2006). Race and social trust. Presented at Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montreal, Canada, August
22.
LenhartA. (2009). Adults and social network websites(Social Networking, Communities, Web 2.0 Report). Washington, DC: Pew Internet and American Life Project.
23.
LienP.ColletC.WongJ.RamakrishnanS. K. (2001). Asian Pacific-American public opinion and political participation. PS: Political Science and Politics, 34, 625–630.
Migheli M. (2007). Trust, Gender, and Social Capital: Experimental Evidence from Three Western European Countries. Available at SSRN 976380. Retrieved from http://www.csef.it/wise4/Migheli.pdf
MuhlbergerP. (2003). Political social trust vs. generalized trust in political participation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia Marriott Hotel, Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p62435_index.html
28.
NieN. H. (2001). Sociability, interpersonal relations, and the Internet: Reconciling conflicting findings. American Behavioral Scientist, 45, 420–435.
29.
OffeC. (1999). Trust and knowledge, rules and decisions: Exploring a difficult conceptual terrain. In WarrenM. (Ed.), Democracy and trust (pp. 1–39). Cambridge,England: Cambridge University Press.
30.
PasekJ.KenskiK.RomerD.JamiesonK. H. (2006). America’s youth and community engagement: How use of mass media is related to political knowledge and civic activity among 14 to 22 year olds. Communication Research, 33, 115–135.
31.
PattersonO. (1999). Liberty against the democratic state: On the historical and contemporary sources of American distrust. In WarrenM. E. (Ed.), Democracy & trust (pp. 151–207). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
32.
PriceV.CappellaJ. N. (2006). Bringing an informed public into policy debates through online deliberation: The case of health care reform. In Proceedings of the National Conference on Digital Government Research, San Diego, CA, May 21-24, 2006, Digital Government Research Center.
33.
PortesA.ManningR. D. (1986). The immigrant enclave: Theory and empirical examples. In OlzakS.NagelJ. (Eds.), Competitive Ethnic Relations (pp. 47–68). New York, NY: Academic Press.
34.
PrenskyM. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, 9, 1–6.
35.
PutnamR. D. (2001). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
36.
SmithS. (2010). “Race and Trust.”Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 453–475.
37.
SmithT. W. (1997). Factors relating to misanthropy in contemporary American society. Social Science Research, 26, 170–196.
UslanerE. M. (2002). The moral foundations of trust. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
40.
UslanerE. M. (2004). Generalized trust, civic engagement, and the Internet. Political Communication, 21, 223–242.
41.
ValenzuelaS.ParkN.KeeK. F. (2009). Is there social capital in a social network site? Facebook use and college students’ life satisfaction, trust, and participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14, 875–901.
42.
VitakJ.ZubeP.SmockA.CarrC.EllisonN.LampeC. (2011). It’s complicated: Facebook users’ political participation in the 2008 election. Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 14, 107–114. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0226 [link] [pdf]
43.
WaldingerR. (1993). The ethnic enclave debate revisited*. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 17, 444–452.
44.
WangS. I. (2007). Political use of the internet, political attitudes and political participation. Asian Journal of Communication, 17, 381–395.
45.
WarrenM. (1999). Democracy and trust. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
46.
WellmanB.HaaseA. Q.WitteJ.HamptonK. (2001). Does the Internet increase, decrease, or supplement social capital? Social networks, participation, and community commitment. American Behavioral Scientists, 45, 436.
47.
WilkesR. (2011). Re-thinking the decline in trust: A comparison of Black and White Americans. Social Science Research, 40, 1596–1610.
