'Centro de Investigacao e Estudos de Sociologia (CIES-IUL)'
Abstract
In this paper we present the results of a web survey regarding opinion and intervention bloggers in Portugal. The study has three main goals: (1) to characterize bloggers according to their social position, political activities,
values and social orientations; (2) to analyse the relationship between online and
offline participation, and how different types of participation relate to different
values and beliefs; (3) finally, to discuss new dynamics within the public sphere
and the impact of the internet on democracy.
The results show that bloggers are socially quite homogeneous, combining
online and offline activism, notwithstanding the diversity of their values. Four
types of political action were found: residual, associative and protest, associative and party-member, and cumulative. Each one corresponds to a different set of
values and beliefs.
In the conclusion, the impact of the new media on public sphere renewal is
discussed, in particular the opportunities that the internet creates for the
expansion of democracy and the support it gives to socio-political autonomy and
the construction of societal projects on individuals, with a special focus on
collective action
