"Showing Weakness" As A Communication Strategy

In today's era,communication ecology is increasingly complex and diverse.Communication has become a new dimension of observation for people to communicate with the world and acquire social resources.Aside from the entertainment factor,there are many cultural phenomena worthy of observation behind the entertainment star social interaction,such as the use of the symbolic resource of "identity"."Grassroots star" is particularly evident due to the particularity identity.About the "Signified"of the word "grassroots star",different scholars may have different opinions.In this study,it refers to those who are humble,have their own special talents,have a wide range of popularity with certain opportunities,and have actually rid themselves of grassroots identity but are constantly constructing and strengthening their own "grassroots",label.The author noticed that such grassroots stars,although they have become "the strong"in fact,but in the interaction with the public and the media,they have built themselves into "the weak"and based on this positioning to carry out the social interaction.Their behaviors reflect the Taoist concept of Lao Tzu's which means "the hard and mighty lie beneath the ground;while the tender and weak dance on the breeze above." Their behaviors also reflect the traditional chinese wisdom of "showing weakness".How does the grassroots star construct the "weak"status?How to use the identity of the "weak" to socialize?What kind of hidden power does the "weak" have?The author is inspired by the sociological theory of the "weapons of the weak",and interprets these problems through the analysis of three typical cases of Zhao Benshan,Guo Degang and Wang Baoqiang.The study founds that grassroots stars continue to construct and solidify their"weak",status in social interactions.The "weapons",based on the "weak" status in the grassroots star social interaction mainly have two aspects:First of all,the "weak"identity constructed by the communicator has become a "weapon".In addition,the communication strategy adopted by the communicator based on the "weak" identity constitutes another "weapon".The reason why the "weak"identity can become a"weapon"is because this identity itself contains a huge hidden force.With the rise of media empowerment and populism,the energy of the "weak identity" has become more prominent.In the choice of specific communication strategies,different grassroots stars have different choices depending on their positioning and communication context.But it is undeniable that these strategies are rooted in their"weak" positioning.