Young people's political participation on the internet in Germany

Abstract

In this paper, young people's political participation on the Internet in Germany will be analyzed by statistical means and on the basis of survey data, comparing five groups: ethnic Germans (the majority group) and four different minority groups. Young people with Turkish or Arab background turned out to be particularly politically active online and offline. Statistical models presented in this paper show that this is on the one hand related to their social context, which is rather politicized. On the other hand young people with Turkish or Arab background seem to be more prone to becoming politically active on the Internet and in the real world due to their grievances caused by discrimination experiences. Additionally, the models reveal other important factors to explain political participation on the Internet like political efficacy and Internet skills. Altogether, the results suggest that disadvantaged minority groups are not necessarily constrained by the (second-level) digital divide.