[Air-l] Internet Users More Tolerant?

[Mark D. Johns]

I suspect this is yet another instance in which correlation is not indicative of
causation.  In a cyber-world characterized by the digital divide, would it not
logically be the case that well-to-do Internet users are better educated and
exposed to a wider variety of life experiences in their "real world" existence?
I doubt the Internet makes us more tolerant.  It's just that people who have
learned to be tolerant happen to be the people with the wherewithal to populate
the Internet.
--
Mark D. Johns, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor of Communication/Linguistics,
Luther College, Decorah, Iowa
http://faculty.luther.edu/~johnsmar/
-----------------------------------------------
"Get the facts first. You can distort them later."
    ---Mark Twain


LivingInternet wrote:

> I think Internet users become particularly aware of the importance of
> freedom of speech, which leads to a respect, or at least tolerance, for the
> voicing of a variety of views.
> See http://livinginternet.com/i/ip_speech.htm
>
> Cheers,
> Bill
>
> At 12:13 PM 6/18/01 -0400, you wrote:
> >The Chronicle of Higher Education reports a study by John Robinson that
> >suggests Internet users are more tolerant of diverse viewpoints. (Chronicle
> >article link below.)
> >
> >I find this study and its conclusions to be very curious. Why are people who
> >use the Internet more than 10 hours a week more likely to be tolerant of
> >diversity than those who are not online? Is tolerance related to some larger
> >psychological trait? Is there something about this technology that tolerant
> >people are drawn to use it? Is there some demographic factor not accounted
> >for in their analysis that would make the finding disappear?
> >
> >The write-up of the actual study is:
> >http://www.webuse.umd.edu/webshop/resources/Diversity%20DivideWP-Alan.pdf
> >
> >~Jenny Stromer-Galley
> >Annenberg School for Communication
> >University of Pennsylvania
> >
> >++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >
> >
> > From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
> >A Study Finds That Web Users Are More Tolerant Than Non-Users
> >By JEFFREY R. YOUNG
> >
> >
> >Internet users are more tolerant of diverse viewpoints than those who do not
> >venture into cyberspace, according to data from an extensive survey of
> >American public opinion.
> >
> >The information was collected as part of the 2000 General Social Survey. The
> >survey, which is commonly used by social scientists, has been conducted
> >every one or two years since 1974 by the University of Chicago's National
> >Opinion Research Center.
> >
> >More: http://chronicle.com/free/2001/06/2001061501t.htm
> >
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