The effect of PC e-m ail usage on social tolerance: Focusing on the mediating effect of comm unica tion with heterogeneous others Tetsuro KOBAYASHI (G ad a e School of mam taes and SocaoZogy, he rnυ erszty of o yo apan Soczety for P omotion of Sctence) Ken'ichi IKEDA (G ad ate SchooZ of umam tzes and SocaoZogy, he rnυ e saty of o yo) The effect of PC e-mail usage on social toler ance was investigated by anal yzing representative sur vey data collected from electorates in Yamanashi Prefecture,

more »

... pan. The results showed that PC e-mail usage had a posi tive effect on social tolerance because it allows for mediating communications w i th heterogeneous others. These resul ts are a clear-cut contrast to prev ious research, which showed that m obile-phone e-mail usage had a negative effect on social toler ance because of the increasing homogeneit y of personal networks. The results indicated that while the technological lim itations of mobile phone e-mail usage selectivel y strengthen communications wi th homogeneous others through the exchange of shor t messages, PC e-mail usage facilitates comm unications between heterogeneous people, because i t is sui table for the exchange of the longer messages necessar y for sharing the assum ptions made during correspondence. From the viewpoint of nourishing "br idgi ng" social capital, i t is suggested that the promotion of PC e-mail should be encouraged by establishing appropriate policies and that the functional development of the use of the Inter net on mobile phones should be empiricall y investi gated.