정보화의 한국인의 의식변화: 네티즌의 동호회 활동을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper studies the possibility that going online changes netizens’ social consciousness. There are two opposite arguments about internet users. One is that heavy internet users become more depressed, lead more stressful lives, and have fewer friends. On the contrary, the other sees the Net as the great opportunity to rebuild lost sense of and trust. People come together on the Net e-mail lists, affinity groups, support groups, and chat rooms. According to this argument, internet is the great leveller to the bar- riers disintegrating people by economic or social class. Analysis of the empirical data reveals that respondents who have the strong affiliation to the internet community they belong to are more likely to show the high level of social consciousness after other important factors such as age, education, ideology are controlled. Furthermore, we find that the extent to which respondents participate in the internet communities influences tolerance and political ideology. That is, the more actively they are involved in the internet, through the experience of altruistic behavior, the higher level of tolerance and liberal ideology they have. Although we cannot generalize these findings because of limits of the data, we may conclude that internet usage does not make people remote from the society but increases interaction with others. Thus, it gives netizens chances of improving social trust and civic engagement which is one of the critical factors for participatory democracy.