Understanding Media Socialization in Democratizing Countries: Mobilization and Malaise in Central and Eastern Europe

Survey data from the mid–1990s in Central and Eastern Europe provide empirical evidence that individuals' perceptions of their own efficacy benefit from mass media chiefly through deliberate, information-seeking media consumption. Grounded in the media mobilization/malaise debate, the findings suggest that individuals can benefit from mass media less through what or how much they consume than through the intention of their consumption. They also demonstrate a theoretical means to export western media theory by stressing the contextual imperatives of transition that motivate individuals' information-seeking behavior in order to better understand the role of media in political socialization.