Studying the Media and Political Participation Link: Political Communication in Minimalist and Maximalist Dimensions of Participation

Abstract

The goal of this article is to provide a review of studies of media effects and other links with political participation in the political communication discipline. It also aims to present what are the challenges posed for the discipline by emerging social, technological and political changes. The focus on the dominant paradigm by the discipline mainstream makes theoretical and methodological approaches harder to adapt to networked, high-choice media environment (Castells 2009, Chadwick 2013, Prior 2007, Van Aelst et al. 2017), but also to changes in social structure and the crisis of political representation. Besides this, it focuses mostly on minimalist dimension of participation, and far less includes its maximalist dimension with broader understanding of political which is becoming common form of citizen engagement. This article reviews research of political communication effects on the minimalist dimension of participation and relationship between digital media and participation in its maximalist dimension.