PADRÕES DE COMPORTAMENTO POLÍTICO JUVENIL COM NOVAS TECNOLOGIAS DE MÍDIA: O PAPEL DA TV E DA INTERNET NA CONSTRUÇÃO DA CULTURA POLÍTICA NO BRASIL

Abstract

The role of the youth in emerging democracies such as Brazil is one of today’s most discussed issues. Political mobilizations catalyzed by mechanisms of a distinct nature of those of the past seem to be strengthening collective identities structuration. One of these mechanisms would be the internet, which through the formation of social networks could help to construct a participative and democratic political culture. We do not question the importance of new information technologies; however, we argue that the constitution of a new youth´s political culture is constrained by historical-structural factors that reproduce traditional political practices that undermine democracy. The data utilized to support our argument comes from surveys that helps us to compare attitudes and behaviors between the youth and adults. The results show that there is no significant difference between those two segments suggesting that the introduction of new information technologies may not have the expected effect.