Political Science in Digital Humanities
How the landscape of social and political science has been changed by digital humanities.
My name is Caroline Shannon, and I am a student at West Chester University completing a digital humanities course in which students are assigned to select a discipline, in my case political science, and relate it to the digital humanities. To complete this project, I am aiming to find how the acceleration of political and social involvement among younger generations in society can be recorded and potentially affected by digital humanities
The American National Election Studies project, also known as ANES, is a completed project through the University of Michigan, also partnered with Duke University, Stanford University, and the University of Texas that highlights key trends in American public opinion and politics from 1948 to the present.
The rise of negative partisanship and the nationalization of U.S elections in the 21st century is an article written by Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster that utilizes data from ANES that explains how in recent years, there been a rise in negative partisanship and political divide.
These pieces aim to highlight just why political and social ideologies are changing so rapidly, and how digital humanities accurately records these changes.
Digital Humanities plays an impactive, pivotal role in the development of both political and social sciences.
Political Science
- “The branch of knowledge that deals with systems of government; the analysis of political activity and behavior,”
Social Science
- “The scientific study of human society and social relationships,”
The American National Election Studies project is a project that lays out the landscape of change in political elections in the US over the last 75 years.
Within the last 15 years of this projects studies…
- There has been a rise in digital campaigns amongst political candidates
- More online infographics supporting candidates ideals have been published
- An influx of newspapers have been digitalized that represents a diverse set of candidates and their ideals from both political parties
- General interest in politics and social issues have risen significantly, recorded to be likely due to the growing of digital humanities
You can see graphs taken from the American National Election Studies Project (ANES) that highlights a survey taken that records what majority of people apart of the 3 major political parties discuss politics with their friends and families as of the year 2020 to the right.
It can be noted that the number of people who discuss these topics with friends and families has risen quite a bit since 1984.
The rise of negative partisanship and the nationalization of U.S. elections in the 21st century, an article written by Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster is available on the ANES website. This peer reviewed article goes into detail about how there has been an increased political divide as of the 21st century, and how Gen Z voters participation in the polls is contributing to this discovery.
Digital Tools & Methods
Many of these tools include…
- A Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior that provides tables and graphs which display the over-time ebb and flow of public opinion, electoral behavior and choice.
- ANES Continuity Guide that offers a comprehensive list of questions that appear in the ANES Time Series Surveys from 1992-2020.
- ANES Question Search to search the ANES Time Series Survey Questions.
Through ANES and its bibliography of over 8,000 articles, many digital tools and methods are available that highlight the political change seen in recent years due to the rise of digital humanities
It has been proven that political and social involvement in society among the younger generations has increased in more recent years. It has also been shown that with more digital publications, the influx of accessible information can be a reason for this change. ANES and the publications it supports aim to be a resource for this accessible information.
Goals that align with the discussion of how the acceleration of political involvement among younger generations can be recorded and potentially changed by digital humanities.
Goals
- ANES strives to provide quick and easy access to information regarding change in public opinion on political matters over the past 75 years.
- The rise of negative partisanship and the nationalization of U.S. elections in the 21st century, strives to provide information regarding how the rise of negative partisanship has coincided with Generation Z entering the polls and becoming increasingly involved with politics.
Values that align with the discussion of how the acceleration of political involvement among younger generations can be recorded and potentially changed by digital humanities.
- ANES values providing honest depictions of centralized political opinion amongst people of all ages in all areas, and how that narrative begins to shift in recent years with the addition of digital humanities.
- The rise of negative partisanship and the nationalization of U.S. elections in the 21st century values the importance of discussion amongst people with differentiating political social values, and making those conversations more accessible via digitalization.
Through the analyzation of ANES and The rise of negative partisanship and the nationalization of U.S. elections in the 21st century, I have definitely found that the increase of digital media has successfully recorded and debatably accelerated the change in involvement of social and political issues amongst younger generations.
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