Digitization processes, monitoring of political information and changes in political culture in Latin America

Abstract

This paper analyzes the digitization processes in Latin America over the last few years, as well as its relationship with the changes in the dynamics of information monitoring and political participation. First, a characterization of the changes in the political culture of the region is carried out, taking into account both its structural factors and subjective and cognitive conditioning factors, paying special attention to political and institutional trust and satisfaction. Second, the state of the art about the media in the region and its relationship with political culture are presented in order to deepen some of the dynamics of citizen political participation and its changes based on the new digital media. Subsequently, the results of the field work, obtained from the data collection of successive waves of the Latinobarometer, are analyzed.

In relation to the digitization processes and the use of digital media for political information, the results show the great progress that the region has made, at the same time that they highlight the great differences between countries, finding development as the main explanatory variable. economic. Regarding the relationship between the components of political culture taken into account and the use of digital media for political information, the results show the role that both institutional trust and democratic satisfaction play in the political use of digital media.