Title: Mediated citizenship: power, practices, and identities

Authors: Peter Dahlgren

Addresses: Lund University, Department of Communication and Media, Box 201, 221 00 Lund, Sweden

Abstract: While the advent of the digital media has certainly altered the character of politics, we must be cautious about simplistic views that reduce the dilemmas of low political participation to technological problem-solving. This article takes mediated citizenship as its starting point, and argues for the importance of understanding civic uses of media technologies in specific, contextual terms. It is argued that power is a key contingency in all these matters, and must be given its analytic due. Focusing on the categories of practices and identities, the discussion conceptually explores the conditions that can promote as well as impede civic agency.

Keywords: mediated citizenship; media use; civic identities; civic practices; political participation; politics; power; digital media; e-governance; electronic governance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEG.2011.041705

International Journal of Electronic Governance, 2011 Vol.4 No.1/2, pp.18 - 26

Published online: 30 Jul 2011 *

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