Media use and political efficacy: The suburbanization of race and class

A telephone survey was executed prior to the March 1992 primary election in suburban Washington, DC, to examine media use, political self, and system efficacy across race and social class. Results show media use predicts political self efficacy, or respondent reported ability to cope with the political system. First, increases in exposure to informational media presentations, such as newspapers, or national television news programs, correspond to increases in self efficacy, especially for African-Americans. Second, self efficacy decreases with increases in exposure to entertainment television programs, also especially for African-Americans. These relationships remain robust even when the effects of educational level are taken into account. An unexpected finding concerned marked increases in self efficacy in association with listening to political call-in programs. Taking into account the interactive nature of this program genre may be especially important in any discussion of innovations in information technology and user efficacy. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.