Identity Construction Of The Lolita Subculture: A Media Usage Perspective

Frequent intercultural exchanges between countries and the development of newmedia have brought great convenience to the communication among subculture adherents.Unlike their counterparts back in the early twentieth century, subculture communities ofthis century are on longer established only by those with lower social power. The existenceof online forums offers spaces for subcultural communities activities, enabling people togather in cyber space based on their unique interests, hobbies, and aesthetic, and constructan identity unique to their subculture in the virtual world.As an adherent of “lolita subculture”, the author chose this rarely-known subculture asthe object of research. After tracing the historical development of lolita subculture whichoriginated from Japan, the author attempts to find out how it grew from a fashion style to acomplex subculture with adherents following their own special dress code. Both qualitative(in-depth interview) and quantitative (questionnaire survey) methods are applied in thestudy to explore the relationship between media usage habits of the lolita fashion adherentsand their identity construction.The results show that those who were interested in lolita subculture, although havingacquired some knowledge of the culture from diverse media, once got into the inner circle,the Internet began to have huge influence on their identity construction. The survey showsthat the depth and breadth of their media usage are proportional to the degree ofunderstanding of lolita subculture. On the one hand, the process of constructing identity isthe process of seeking their “ideal-self”. On the other hand, opinions of other membersfrom the community had great impact on their identity construction. New media allowmembers to share their opinions more conveniently. Members have more chance to expresstheir opinions about the subculture community. A member will participate in the identityconstruction of new members. Lolita adherents are resistant to the quick-pace of modernsociety. They established small community that belongs only to women. Their "super-ego"does not aim to please men under men s power. The consumption of lolita dress, which isthe symbol of the subculture, is an implicit way to resist mainstream culture.