THE INFORMATION GAP AND MUNICIPAL POLITICS IN SWEDEN

Abstract

This article deals with three aspects of the well-known “information gap” phenomenon. The author takes a starting point from a broadened definition of the information gap including not only knowledgeability itself, but also the information processes that precede and follow it, i.e., information seeking and dissemination. The subject area is local politics in Sweden in 1979 and it is claimed that less well-educated people are above average on exposure to information, slightly below average on knowledgeability, and far below average on dissemination. From a normative democratic point of view a concluding remark is that the “influence gap” might be more of a threat than the information gap.