This study posits that there is a connection between political action online and activism in the real life. In addition, social ties and networks as well as political knowledge and efficacy play an important role in this connection. Causes, an application on Facebook, was selected for analyzed. A mixed method study was conducted, consisting of two stages. In the first stage (quantitative), a survey was utilized to investigate the correlation between activities on Causes and conventional political engagement. A total of 45 responses were gathered using convenience sampling. It was found that there is a strong correlation between action on Causes and conventional political engagement. For example, information retrieval activities are correlated with conventional activism (r=.418, p<.05), and social networking activities are also correlated with conventional activism (r=.661, p<.05). In addition to the survey, intensive interviews (N = 5) were conducted in the second stage (qualitative) to elaborate and clarify the results from the survey as well as to explore new grounds on the significance of ties and networks. Some themes have emerged from the interviews, including motivations for the use of Causes, Causes as an information channel, potential and problems of Causes, online versus offline activism, affiliation and involvement, political knowledge and efficacy as well as ties and networks. Interview findings concluded that the high correlation between online and offline activism is further specified by the interviewees to be an extension of each form of activism, meaning they are complementary rather than identical.

Cette thèse par articles étudie les origines de la sophistication politique. Les chapitres un, deux et trois étudient l'impact d'une série de variables sur les connaissances politiques tandis que le chapitre quatre examine l'impact des connaissances politiques sur la façon dont les individus mettent à jour leurs opinions. Le premier article explore les effets de l'éducation collégiale, l'intérêt politique et les capacités cognitives sur le développement des connaissances politiques. Nous montrons que l'enseignement collégial général a un impact relativement petit sur le développement des connaissances politiques, mais l'enseignement collégial en sciences sociales et humaines a un impact positif sur la connaissance politique, mettant en évidence un effet substantiel de l'éducation. De plus, nous démontrons que les habiletés cognitives déterminent le niveau de connaissances générales, tandis que l'intérêt politique et l'éducation affectent également la variation des connaissances politiques au fil du temps. Le deuxième article étudie l'impact des aptitudes verbales à l'âge de cinq ans sur trois indicateurs importants de la sophistication politique: les connaissances politiques à 16 ans, ainsi que l'intérêt politique et la participation à 30 ans. Il est démontré que les aptitudes verbales à l'âge de 5 ans ont un impact fort et non linéaire sur les connaissances politiques à 16 ans, et l'intérêt politique à 30 ans, tandis que leur impact sur la participation future est fort et linéaire. Enfin, l'impact des variables parentales sur les connaissances politiques est considérablement réduit lorsque les compétences verbales précoces sont prises en compte. Le troisième article examine l'impact de l'ouverture aux expériences sur la sophistication politique. Il est soutenu que c'est l'intellectualisme qui explique la relation trouvée entre l'ouverture et l'information politique dans les recherches passées et que les nouvelles recherches utilisant le Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) ne devraient pas reproduire ce résultat. L'article soutient que c'est parce que l'échelle TIPI évalue l'aspect esthétique de l'ouverture et est mal adapté pour capturer sa composante intellectuelle. Il est également démontré que l'impact de l'intellectualisme en tant que trait de personnalité tient aussi lorsque les habiletés cognitives sont prises en compte. Le dernier article a deux objectifs. Le premier est de considérer l'impact des connaissances politiques sur les perceptions du biais médiatique. Le second est d'étendre la recherche sur les perceptions des biais médiatiques à un électorat non américain. Nous constatons que, comme c'est le cas aux États-Unis, les conservateurs sont plus enclins à croire en l'existence de biais médiatiques. Il est également démontré que les citoyens les plus informés sont plus susceptibles de penser que les médias sont biaisés, mais ils ne sont pas plus susceptibles de percevoir ces biais lorsqu'ils ne sont pas d'accord avec un journaliste. Par conséquent, il appert que les citoyens plus informés ne sont pas plus susceptibles de faire montre de raisonnement motivé. / This thesis by articles investigates the origins of political sophistication. Chapters one, two, and three investigate the impact of a series of variables on political knowledge, while Chapter four looks at the impact of political knowledge on how individuals update their opinions. The first paper explores the effects of college education, political interest, and cognitive abilities on the development of political knowledge. It is shown that general college education has a minimal impact on political knowledge development, but college education in social sciences and humanities has a positive impact on political knowledge, highlighting a substantive effect of education. Moreover, it is shown that cognitive skills determine one's general knowledge level, while political interest and education also affect political knowledge variation over time. The second paper looks at the impact of early verbal skills on political sophistication. This paper investigates the impact of verbal skills at five years of age on three important indicators of political sophistication: political knowledge at 16, as well as political interest and turnout at 30. It is shown that verbal skills at 5 years of age have a strong and non-linear impact on political knowledge at 16, and political interest at 30, while their impact on future turnout is strong and linear. Finally, the impact of parental variables on political knowledge is significantly reduced when early verbal skills are accounted for. The third article looks at the impact of openness to experience on political sophistication. This paper seeks to investigate this relation by distinguishing two different aspects of openness to experience that are sometimes overlooked: the aesthetic and the intellectual components of openness. It is argued that the latter explains the relation found between openness and political knowledge in past research, and that new research using the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) should not be expected to replicate this finding. The paper argues that this is because the TIPI scale assesses the aesthetic aspect of openness and is ill suited to capture its intellectual component. It is also shown that the impact of intellectualism as a personality trait also holds when cognitive skills are taken into account. The last paper has two goals. The first is to consider the impact of political knowledge on perceptions of media bias. The second is to extend research on media bias perceptions to a non-American electorate. It is shown that, as found in the US, Conservatives are more prone to believe in the existence of media bias. It is also shown that the most knowledgeable citizens are more likely to think that the media are biased, but they are not more likely to perceive bias when they disagree with a journalist. These results hold true even when a variety of potential confounding factors such as personality traits are taken into account.

The Swedish citizens' trust towards politics is decreasing. This examination's purpose is to investigate the citizens' trust towards the Swedish parliament, government and social institutions in the two Swedish suburbs Skarpnäck and Bromma. This is being studied through Robert D Putnam's theory of social capital and how social capital is affecting people's trust towards each other and Swedish politics. This is being researched based on these questions: “How does the trust look towards the parliament, government and social institutions in Skarpnäck and Bromma'' and the subquestion “What possible explanations are there for the difference in trust between Skarpnäck and Bromma.” The second question is “How does Putnam's definition of Social capital differ between Skarpnäck and Bromma” and the subquestion “Is a bigger social capital the explanation for a higher trust in the two studied areas?”. Data for this research has been collected through the triangulation method thus with a method of quantity and a method of quality. The method of quantity is executed through two surveys and the method of quality is executed with semi- structured interviews. The study shows a result of a difference in trust between the two suburbs where the citizens of Bromma have a higher level of trust towards the parliament and social institutions. The citizens of Skarpnäck have a higher level of trust towards the government. This study displays the fact that Robert D. Putnam's definition of social capital regarding network and norm can not be used to explain the difference in trust. Instead this research shows that the political standing point regarding what party you vote for, political knowledge and political interest is a bigger contributing factor with reference to trust towards politics and social institutions.

No description available.

La thèse étudie les modalités d’approvisionnement de la ville de Venise en produits de la mer (poissons, crustacés et coquillages) au XVIIIe siècle. Il s'agit de comprendre un système qui concerne à la fois des acteurs, des pratiques, des espaces et des modes de gouvernement. L’analyse prend comme point de départ les espèces, puis leur exploitation, faisant du poisson une ressource alimentaire pour la ville. À Venise, l’ensemble des habitants, des patriciens aux membres du popolo les plus fragiles, consomme du poisson sous toutes ces formes. Cette consommation quotidienne a entraîné chez les acteurs impliqués dans ce système, pêcheurs, marchands et gouvernants, d’intenses réflexions autour de la propriété, de la gestion, de l’exploitation et de la protection des espèces. L’étude se situe ainsi à la croisée de plusieurs champs historiques (histoire environnementale, histoire sociale et histoire des institutions) et emprunte certaines de ses approches à l’histoire économique et à l’histoire urbaine. L’enjeu est donc de comprendre comment se crée et se négocie un système de gestion et d’exploitation d’une ressource, impliquant des savoirs politiques, des savoirs techniques et des usages particuliers élaborés dans des milieux lagunaires et maritimes. Cette interaction est en pleine évolution au XVIIIe siècle, à une période où les mécanismes marchands et économiques sont soumis à des évolutions de conception profondes. Les ressources de la mer n’échappent pas à ces questionnements et la materia del pesce, expression utilisée par les magistrats vénitiens, devient un espace de négociation entre les acteurs du système et les gouvernants dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle. / This study analyses how the city of Venice managed to supply its fish markets in the 18th century, an organization system that involved actors, practices, spaces, and government strategies. The analyze focuses initially on the fish, which means to start by specifying the specimens that were captured to assess the production rhythms. All the mentioned aspects defined the exploitation system of this product, which became a crucial food resource for the city. In Venice, everybody ate seafood in their everyday life, from nobles to popolani. Such a remarkable place of the fish as basic food resulted in intensive reflections by the government and by the actors involved in the markets (merchants, fishermen, or fishmongers). They were particularly concerned about the management, the exploitation, and also the protection of these resources. Therefore, this study is related to historiography in several manners: Environmental history, Social history, and the History of the institutions; and it uses some approaches from Urban history and Economical history as well.The aim of this research is to determine how a management system of a capital resource for the city could be created and negotiated, a complex plan that involved political knowledge, technical skills, and particular uses of the exploitation of the lagoon. This interaction between politics and technique evolved during the 18th century, a period in which the economic life changed deeply. The materia del pesce, an expression used by the Venetian government, became a subject of negotiation between the authorities and the fish market actors.

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / The second fully democratic election in South Africa is scheduled to take place in May 1999. In the five years since the first election, it appears that very little attention has been paid to the political literacy of the electorate in general, and the youth in particular. The purpose of this study was to establish adolescents' level of political knowledge and whether they are able to think critically about political issues or not. The first part of the literature study which was concerned with critical thinking revealed that the major aspects of critical thinking are: deductive reasoning, inductive inference, recognition of assumptions, credibility, and problem solving. The second part of the literature study was an analysis of which factors may play a role in the development of critical thinking of an adolescent. with particular reference to a political context. The third part was an examination of important current political and social issues. These were: the new Constitution. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, housing, land redistribution, education, labour, health, crime, political violence, environment, and the next election. A reliable measuring instrument was developed in order to measure adolescents' knowledge of political issues, and their ability to think critically about these issues. The results of the empirical study revealed that intellectual potential and academic achievement were significantly related to critical thinking ability, while gender, environment, and personality appeared not to play a role. There was a significant correlation between political knowledge and critical thinking in a political context, implying that critical thinking is subject-specific. Cultural background also played a significant role in critical thinking in a political context. In terms of political knowledge, boys were found to be at a significantly higher level than girls. The subjects from urban areas were also at a significantly higher level than those from rural areas. There was also a positive correlation between intellectual potential, academic achievement, and political knowledge. Finally, some recommendations for improving the levels of political knowledge and critical thinking abilities with regard to political issues of South African adolescents were given. / Die tweede ten valle demokratiese verkiesing in Suid-Afrika is geskeduleer om in Mei 1999 plaas te vind. In die vyf jaar sedert die vorige verkiesing is baie min aandag gegee aan die politieke geletterdheid van die verkiesingspubliek in die algemeen en die jeug in besonder. Die doel van hierdie studie was om adolessente se vlak van politieke kennis te bepaal en om vas te stel of hulle in staat is om krities oar politieke kwessies na te dink. Die eerste deel van die literatuurstudie wat verband hou met kritiese denke het uitgewys dat die hoofaspekte van kritiese denke die volgende is: deduktiewe redenering, induktiewe inferensies, herkenning van aannames, geloofwaardigheid en probleemoplossing. Die tweede deel van die literatuurstudie behels 'n analise van die faktore wat 'n rol kan speel in die ontwikkeling van die kritiese denke van die adolessent, met spesifieke verwysing na 'n politieke konteks. Die derde deel is 'n ondersoek na belangrike teenswoordige politieke en sosiale kwessies. Hierdie kwessies sluit in: die nuwe Grondwet, die Waarheids- en Versoeningskommissie, behuising, herverdeling van grand, opvoeding, arbeid, gesondheid, misdaad, politieke geweld, die omgewing en die volgende verkiesing. 'n Betroubare meetinstrument om adolessente se kennis van politieke kwessies asook hul vermoe om krities daaroor na te dink, is ontwikkel. Die resultate van die empiriese ondersoek het aangetoon dat intellektuele potensiaal en akademiese prestasie betekenisvol verband hou met kritiese denkvermoe, terwyl geslag, omgewing en persoonlikheid klaarblyklik nie 'n rol speel nie. Daar is ook 'n betekenisvolle korrelasie tussen politieke kennis en kritiese denke in 'n politieke konteks wat impliseer dat kritiese denke vakspesifiek is. Kulturele agtergrond speel ook 'n betekenisvolle rol in kritiese denke in 'n politieke konteks. Ten opsigte van politieke kennis is daar bevind dat seuns op 'n betekenisvolle hoer vlak is as dogters. Respondente uit stedelike gebiede is oak op 'n betekenisvolle hoer vlak as diegene uit plattelandse gebiede. Oaar is oak 'n betekenisvolle korrelasie tussen intellektuele potensiaal, akademiese prestasie en politieke kennis. Ten slotte is aanbevelings gemaak om die vlakke van politieke kennis en kritiese denkvermoens met betrekking tot politieke aangeleenthede by Suid-Afrikaanse adolessente te verbeter. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

在關於政黨認同的研究中，除了明白表示出政黨認同的這群人之外，其餘沒有明白表示出政黨認同的選民，通常被歸類為所謂的「中立無反應」者，或是「獨立選民」。然而，這群沒有明白表示出政黨認同或投票對象的受訪者是否真是中立或無反應者，抑或真是獨立選民呢？葉銘元（1994）針對我國的獨立選民曾做過相當詳細的研究，本文接續其研究，選擇政治大學選舉研究中心的面訪資料，針對1989年至1999年間我國獨立選民的發展與變遷情形，分別就「我國獨立選民政黨認同及社會背景的發展與變遷」、「我國獨立選民政治涉入的發展與變遷」、「我國獨立選民投票取向的發展與變遷」及「影響獨立選民發展與變遷的因素」等方面作分析。 研究結果發現：我國獨立選民的比例雖然有下降的趨勢，但是近年來此種趨勢似乎有逆轉的情形，且獨立選民比例的高低的確會受到選舉制度不同的影響。獨立選民的社會背景也和政黨認同者有差異，他們的政治涉入較政黨認同者為低，對候選人及政黨評價較低，對議題保持中立的立場，投票時比較會考量候選人的條件優劣，較不會依政黨界限投票。與此同時，我們也發現獨立選民的組成上是由政治知識及政治涉入較低的「冷漠型獨立選民」，逐漸轉變為政治知識及政治涉入較高的「理想型獨立選民」。 在未來的發展趨勢上，我們發現新世代及新新世代選民中獨立選民所佔的比例是較低的，因此我們可以預期，獨立選民的比例應該還有下降的可能性。在民主化的進程繼續推展，政黨政治日益成熟穩定之後，我們預期有政黨認同的選民會呈現增長的趨勢，與此同時，獨立選民並不會大幅度的減少。基於獨立選民是理想公民的期待，我們相信還是會有一定比例的民眾認為自己是獨立選民，但正如同我們觀察到的，此時的獨立選民將不再是對政治一無所知，或是對政治冷漠的冷漠型獨立選民；而將成為對政治保持高度關注，並能依自己客觀的態度做出政治決定的理想公民。 / In most studies about party identification, people who do not clearly indicate their party identification are usually classified as so「neutral non-respondents」or 「Independents」. Are these respondents really neutral or non-response, or are they really independents ? Yeh Ming-Yuan (1994) has done detailed research on independent voters in Taiwan. This thesis follows his research, using individual level survey data to analyze the developing and changing situation of independent voters in Taiwan from 1989 through 1999. In particular, this thesis examines changing party identification and social background of independent voters, changing political involvement among independent voters, changing vote intentions of independent voters, and the facts which have influenced the develop of independent voters. Our research outcomes have shown that although the percentage of independent voters in Taiwan has declined, in recent years this trend seems to have reversed, The percentage of independent voters has actually been influenced by changes in the electoral system. There are differences in social background between independents and party identifiers. The degree of political involvement of independent voters is lower than that of party identifiers. Their evaluation of candidates and parties is also lower than those of party identifiers. They tend to stay neutral to all political issues when making their voting decisions, they tend to consider the conditions of the candidates, rather than voting by the boundary of parties. However, we also discover that independent voters are gradually evolving from "apathetic independent voters", with lower political knowledge and lower political involvement, to "ideal independent voters", with higher political knowledge and higher political involvement. Looking to the future, we discover that the percentage of independent voters in the next generation and the generation after that are much lower. Hence we can predict that the percentage of independent voters will likely decline. With the continuing development of democracy and the increasing maturity and stability of party politics, we expect that the percentage of party indentifiers will grow. However, this does not necessarily mean that the percentage of independent voters will decline dramatically.Because of the expectation that independent voters are the ideal citizens, we believe that there are still a certain percentage of people who will consider themselves as independent voters. Hence, independent voters increasingly will not be "apathetic independent voters" who know nothing about politics. On the contrary, they will become "ideal citizens" who keep highly concerned about politics and make political decisions according to their own subjective attitudes.

The central issue in this study is political socialisation and its implications within a rural setting in South Africa with a particular focus on Calais village in Limpopo Province. The aim of the study is to determine how adult residents of Calais village, are politically socialised; and furthermore to assess the impact of the socialisation process on the residents’ political behaviour within a democratic South Africa. In order to achieve the research purpose, face-to-face interviews were conducted with forty (40) adult residents in Calais village. The study revealed that the respondents were politically socialised by the media, immediate family, peers, extended family, political parties, local municipality, school, traditional leadership, ward committee and religious institutions. The media were the most important agent, while the religious institutions were the least. Furthermore, NGOs and trade unions were not socialisation agents in Calais village. The socialisation process had an impact on the respondents’ political behaviour in terms of political interest, party identification, political beliefs, efficacy, knowledge, awareness and participation. / Political Sciences / M.A. (Politics)

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / The second fully democratic election in South Africa is scheduled to take place in May 1999. In the five years since the first election, it appears that very little attention has been paid to the political literacy of the electorate in general, and the youth in particular. The purpose of this study was to establish adolescents' level of political knowledge and whether they are able to think critically about political issues or not. The first part of the literature study which was concerned with critical thinking revealed that the major aspects of critical thinking are: deductive reasoning, inductive inference, recognition of assumptions, credibility, and problem solving. The second part of the literature study was an analysis of which factors may play a role in the development of critical thinking of an adolescent. with particular reference to a political context. The third part was an examination of important current political and social issues. These were: the new Constitution. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, housing, land redistribution, education, labour, health, crime, political violence, environment, and the next election. A reliable measuring instrument was developed in order to measure adolescents' knowledge of political issues, and their ability to think critically about these issues. The results of the empirical study revealed that intellectual potential and academic achievement were significantly related to critical thinking ability, while gender, environment, and personality appeared not to play a role. There was a significant correlation between political knowledge and critical thinking in a political context, implying that critical thinking is subject-specific. Cultural background also played a significant role in critical thinking in a political context. In terms of political knowledge, boys were found to be at a significantly higher level than girls. The subjects from urban areas were also at a significantly higher level than those from rural areas. There was also a positive correlation between intellectual potential, academic achievement, and political knowledge. Finally, some recommendations for improving the levels of political knowledge and critical thinking abilities with regard to political issues of South African adolescents were given. / Die tweede ten valle demokratiese verkiesing in Suid-Afrika is geskeduleer om in Mei 1999 plaas te vind. In die vyf jaar sedert die vorige verkiesing is baie min aandag gegee aan die politieke geletterdheid van die verkiesingspubliek in die algemeen en die jeug in besonder. Die doel van hierdie studie was om adolessente se vlak van politieke kennis te bepaal en om vas te stel of hulle in staat is om krities oar politieke kwessies na te dink. Die eerste deel van die literatuurstudie wat verband hou met kritiese denke het uitgewys dat die hoofaspekte van kritiese denke die volgende is: deduktiewe redenering, induktiewe inferensies, herkenning van aannames, geloofwaardigheid en probleemoplossing. Die tweede deel van die literatuurstudie behels 'n analise van die faktore wat 'n rol kan speel in die ontwikkeling van die kritiese denke van die adolessent, met spesifieke verwysing na 'n politieke konteks. Die derde deel is 'n ondersoek na belangrike teenswoordige politieke en sosiale kwessies. Hierdie kwessies sluit in: die nuwe Grondwet, die Waarheids- en Versoeningskommissie, behuising, herverdeling van grand, opvoeding, arbeid, gesondheid, misdaad, politieke geweld, die omgewing en die volgende verkiesing. 'n Betroubare meetinstrument om adolessente se kennis van politieke kwessies asook hul vermoe om krities daaroor na te dink, is ontwikkel. Die resultate van die empiriese ondersoek het aangetoon dat intellektuele potensiaal en akademiese prestasie betekenisvol verband hou met kritiese denkvermoe, terwyl geslag, omgewing en persoonlikheid klaarblyklik nie 'n rol speel nie. Daar is ook 'n betekenisvolle korrelasie tussen politieke kennis en kritiese denke in 'n politieke konteks wat impliseer dat kritiese denke vakspesifiek is. Kulturele agtergrond speel ook 'n betekenisvolle rol in kritiese denke in 'n politieke konteks. Ten opsigte van politieke kennis is daar bevind dat seuns op 'n betekenisvolle hoer vlak is as dogters. Respondente uit stedelike gebiede is oak op 'n betekenisvolle hoer vlak as diegene uit plattelandse gebiede. Oaar is oak 'n betekenisvolle korrelasie tussen intellektuele potensiaal, akademiese prestasie en politieke kennis. Ten slotte is aanbevelings gemaak om die vlakke van politieke kennis en kritiese denkvermoens met betrekking tot politieke aangeleenthede by Suid-Afrikaanse adolessente te verbeter. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)