New Media Use,Subjective Social Class And The Perception Of Class Mobility

With the rapid development of economy and the transformation of social structure,the stratum composition of Chinese society is becoming more and more complex and differentiated.Individuals’ sense of their social class and imagination of social class mobility have attracted great attention of scholars in different areas.In the field of communication study,one of our concerns is that whether and to what extent the use of media reshape and construct people’s subjective social class and mobility perception,especially considering that their perceived real world and social groups are expanding with the widespread use of internet or social media.In other words,the diversified discourse space and social practice carried by new media are gradually changing people’s subjective social class and mobility,which we know little about.Based on cultivation theory and social capital theory,this research intends to explore how specific new media use pattern and online social capital exert impacts on people’s subjective social class and mobility.After considering research purposes and data availability,we select 2019 Chinese Social Survey(CSS2019)as sample data.With regard to analysis approach,Pearson correlation,ordinary least squares regression(OLS)and multi category logistic regression were applied.This study has the following findings:First of all,the current subjective social class of Chinese residents is changing from low-level to middle-level.In terms of future subjective social class,the proportion has been significantly improved,with an olive social structure trend.Second,people’s subjective social class presents the characteristics of mobility.The existing and expected social class mobility shows the trend of moving up,and participants believe they will achieve small-scale upward mobility in the future.Thirdly,as a comprehensive tool of integrating information acquisition,social communication,entertainment and relaxation and life services,new media provides the possibility to improve people’s subjective social class and mobility.The more public and political information people get through new media,the higher levels of their subjective social class perceive in the future.What’s more,it is expected that the occurrence ratio of upward mobility will also increase significantly in the future.The entertainment use of new media will have a significant positive impact on the current subjective social class,while it has a negative effect on the future subjective social class.At the same time,it also reduces the expectation of upward mobility.The social use of new media will have a significant positive impact on people’s future class identity.In contrast,instrumental use is significantly positively associated with current class identity.Finally,online social capital,specifically structural online social capital,has a significant positive impact on future subjective social class,existing and expected social class mobility perception.Compared with high-frequency socializing,extending broad and diverse social networks are more effective for people to realize their self class identity and social mobility expectations.This paper investigates the explanatory power of cultivation theory and social capital theory to the current Chinese residents’ subjective social class and mobility perception,trying to provide a new perspective and general conclusion for the research of new media use on subjective class and mobility perception.