Revisiting the Cultural Logic of Politics in the Digital Age : Internet Use, Personalization of Political Action, and Asian Values

Abstract

The debate on Asian values is inconclusive when it comes to the personalization of politics in the digital and connected age. Some scholars argue that there are normative, as well as institutional, constraints on political action, which is especially challenging to the elite, but others view Internet mobilization as cutting across such cultural (and even political) boundaries. We add to the debate, and to the research on digital media and politics more generally, by testing the effects of normative orientations toward Asian values on online activities for unconventional political participation. Using the fourth wave Asian Barometer Survey (ABS IV), we show that online political expression reinforces the pattern-maintaining effects of traditional values that prioritize harmony and respect for hierarchy over contestation and self-assertion. But our data analysis also demonstrates a mobilizing influence of digitally mediated pathways on political action that is personalized beyond its normative obligation to collective interest.