Christian Schnaudt

From seeing the writing on the wall, to getting together for a bowl : direct and compensating effects of Facebook use on offline associational membership

ABSTRACT Research concerned with a decline of associational involvement has examined whether the use of social networking sites, such as Facebook, may reinvigorate or crowd out involvement in civil society. Yet, previous studies have not systematically investigated possible effects of Facebook use on associational membership. We posit that the effects of Facebook use are twofold: Facebook stimulates associational membership directly through its inherent networking features and indirectly by compensating for the lack of traditional mobilizing factors, such as social trust and internal efficacy. Relying on a probabilistic sample of German participants aged 18–49, our findings show that Facebook users are more likely to be members of voluntary associations and that Facebook use increases the likelihood of associational membership even for individuals with low levels of social trust and internal efficacy. Instead of crowding out offline associational involvement, Facebook use stimulates membership in voluntary associations, thus contributing to the vitality of civil society.

Consequences of Political Confidence

What are the respective consequences of individual citizens’ confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities? In the fourth chapter of his book, Schnaudt analyzes whether the attitudinal and behavioral consequences of citizens’ confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities are the same or rather different ones. According to the author, despite recurring lamentations about a lack of research on the implications of political confidence, so far much more effort has been spent on investigating the antecedents of political confidence rather than its consequences. In order to alleviate this omission from the literature, Schnaudt examines the respective influence of confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities on citizens’ support for different models of democratic citizenship as well as citizens’ political participation. Relying on individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS), the author shows that confidence in representative institutions and authorities fosters citizens’ support for a participatory model of citizenship, whereas confidence in regulative institutions and authorities increases citizens’ support for a representative model of citizenship. Contrary to more recent findings in the empirical literature, Schnaudt’s analysis concerning the behavioral implications of political confidence shows that neither confidence in representative institutions and authorities nor in regulative ones exerts an impact on citizens’ institutionalized or non-institutionalized political participation. The fourth chapter thus provides novel insights into both the attitudinal and behavioral implications of political confidence, in particular in those instances in which the author is able to demonstrate varying consequences of confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities.

Antecedents of Political Confidence

What are the respective antecedents of individual citizens’ confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities? In the third chapter of his book, Schnaudt analyzes whether the sources of citizens’ confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities are the same or rather different ones. For this purpose, the author relies on the most widely used explanations of political confidence in the literature—namely social capital, institutional-performance evaluations, and political involvement—and examines their respective relevance and explanatory power with regard to a one-dimensional and a two-dimensional conception as well as a typology of political confidence. Using the same group of explanatory accounts for different conceptions and types of political confidence, Schnaudt is able to determine whether one and the same set of antecedents is related differently to citizens’ confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities. In his empirical analysis based on individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS), the author shows that different facets of social capital, institutional-performance evaluations, and political involvement exert a varying influence on citizens’ confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities, respectively. The chapter’s main conclusion is that citizens’ decision to place confidence in representative institutions and authorities depends on a different set of factors than their corresponding decision to place confidence in regulative institutions and authorities. According to the author, it is therefore clearly misleading to assume that political confidence is a coherent, one-dimensional syndrome that emanates from one identical pool of antecedents.

Introduction: Political Confidence and Democracy

Political confidence establishes a cornerstone of any stable democratic system, as it enhances both the legitimacy and effectiveness of democratic governance. In recent years, however, growing and recurring concerns about low and decreasing levels of political confidence have been echoed among numerous scholars, politicians, and journalists alike. While some are skeptical about the implications of political confidence for the viability of modern democracies, others have labeled this situation a crisis, a malaise, or even a breakdown. In the introductory chapter of his book, Schnaudt argues that most of what is known about the levels, developments, and consequences of political confidence may be incomplete or even misleading. According to the author, research on political confidence is characterized by a restricted and unwarranted focus on representative institutions and authorities and a concomitant neglect of citizens’ confidence in regulative institutions and authorities. In order to arrive at a thorough and encompassing empirical picture about the relevance of political confidence for the functioning and well-being of contemporary democracies, the author makes a case for analyzing the distinctiveness, antecedents, and consequences of citizens’ confidence in both representative and regulative institutions and authorities. In doing so, Schnaudt challenges the predominant usage of so-called one-dimensional conceptions of political confidence that obscure important qualitative differences between citizens’ confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities. The introductory chapter outlines the major research problems and challenges in detail, presents the research questions and strategy pursued throughout the book, and concludes with a discussion of the data basis used for the empirical analysis.

Conclusions: The Distinctiveness and Relevance of Different Types of Political Confidence

Does it pay off to rely on a distinction between confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities rather than conflating citizens’ confidence in different institutions and authorities into one single, one-dimensional measure? In the concluding chapter of his book, Schnaudt summarizes the main results of his comprehensive empirical analysis, elaborates on the further implications of his findings and delineates promising perspectives and avenues for future research on political confidence. The author’s main conclusion states that, in comparison to the one-dimensional conception of political confidence as routinely used in most of previous research, the distinction between confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities allows for empirically more encompassing and better informed conclusions about the relevance and impact of political confidence in contemporary European democracies. Not only do European citizens distinguish between confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities, both types of political confidence also emanate from different sources and origins and imply different consequences. Schnaudt concludes his book with several recommendations for future research on political confidence, paying particular attention to questions of theory development and refinement, measurement, causality, as well as the broader implications and consequences of political confidence for the viability of democracy.

The Concept of Political Confidence

Do individual citizens make a distinction between confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities? In the second chapter of his book, Schnaudt clarifies the general meaning and nature of the concept political confidence and elaborates on the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of the distinction between confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities. The author identifies specific features that characterize the essence of political confidence and demarcate it from adjacent and related concepts such as interpersonal trust or political support. Based on his general understanding of the concept, Schnaudt develops three different conceptions of political confidence and elaborates on the respective nature and underlying logic of each of them. The author presents a one-dimensional and a two-dimensional conception as well as a typology of political confidence, all of which differ with respect to the question as to whether a distinction between confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities might further enlighten our understanding about the relevance of political confidence for the viability of modern democracies. Following the conceptual and theoretical discussion, Schnaudt provides a careful operationalization of the concept political confidence and illustrates the empirical adequacy of each of the three conceptions developed earlier using data from several waves of the European Social Survey (ESS). The second chapter thus lays the conceptual, theoretical and empirical foundations on which political confidence is based and provides the starting point for the subsequent analysis on the respective antecedents and consequences of citizens’ confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities.