PhD Candidate Pavel Bacovsky has had his article, “From xbox to the ballot box? The influence of leisure activities on political engagement and vote choice“ published in the Journal of Information Technology & Politics.

ABSTRACT

How does engagement in leisure activities, such as playing videogames, affect political behavior and preferences? Are young adult gamers just a group of basement-dwellers who are disengaged from politics, or are there specific political issues that gamers care about? Analysis of panel data of Swedish young adults suggests that avid gamers are more likely than non-gamers to care about issues that fall under the umbrella of Pirate politics, and therefore support the Swedish Pirate Party. Avid gamers are also more likely to use the Internet to engage in political behavior. These findings help explain the political attitudes of the ever-growing number of young adult gamers, and the effects of seemingly apolitical leisure activities on political behavior more broadly.

Learn more at: 

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Pavel Bacovsky. "Gaming Alone: Videogaming and Sociopolitical Attitudes." 2020. New Media & Society. .

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Congratulations to Pavel Bacovsky, one of our very own Ph.D. Candidates! His article titled " Gaming alone: Videogaming and Sociopolitical Attitudes" has been published in SAGE Journals.

Abstract: What sustains prosocial attitudes and political engagement in the era of online connectivity? Scholars disagree on whether frequent consumers of virtual entertainment disconnect from sociopolitical life. Using the Swedish Political Socialization Panel dataset and partial-pool time series methodology, I investigate the relationship between playing videogames and adolescents’ political and social attitudes over time. I find that those gamers who spend more time engaging in their favorite pastime become less interested in sociopolitical issues and less prosocial than non-gamers from year to year. My findings tell a cautionary tale about the adverse effects of extensive gaming on the development of democratic attitudes among adolescents.

Check it out here:

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The Graduate students of the Political Science Department received multiple honors at this year’s Graduate School Recognition Ceremony.

• SeongJun Kim was awarded the Dissertation Completion Fellowship.

• Pavel Bacovsky received the Graduate School Summer Fellowship.

• Carey E. Stapleton earned the GPTI Teaching Excellence Award.

• The Beverly Sears Award was given to Brett Bessen, Adriana Molina Garzon, Samantha Moya, and Timothy Passmore.

"Congratulations to our award winners and recipients of professional development certifications, and many thanks to the faculty and staff who support them in their research, creative work, and teaching, as well as the donors whose generosity make these awards possible."

Interim Dean Leslie Reynolds, the Graduate School

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