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Assessing the Potential of Internet Political Participation in the United States: A Resource Approach

University of Rhode Island

An emerging scholarly consensus asserts that patterns of Internet political participation willmerely imitate the established patterns of participatory inequality in the United States. Becausethose from advantaged backgrounds access the medium at higher rates, the opportunities to participatevia the Internet should disproportionately extend to high-resource individuals. I arguethat the focus on access has important theoretical limitations. If one accepts the future possibilityof near-equal access, then explorations of the Internet's participatory potential should includetheoretical guidance about what types of individuals would most likely participate if equalInternet access were achieved. Drawing on diverse literature, two expectations develop; one predictsthe reinforcement of existing participation patterns, and the other suggests a change inthose patterns to include new types of individuals. I empirically test these competing claims,concluding that given equalized access, the Internet shows genuine potential to bring new individualsinto the political process.

Key Words: political participation • United States • Internet • access • resources

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