| Influenced by the development of internet media technology,society has emerged with new consumption habits and scenarios.Media based consumption methods such as online payment,planting and weeding,and online consumption evaluation have been integrated into the daily lives of ordinary people.Individual consumers sharing stories and experiences about their consumption life on social media is one of the representative phenomena in the era of media consumption.In the current era of consumerism,Quyuan’s social media platform Douban has gathered a group of users who share their lives with the theme of frugality and restraint in consumption.As of January 20 th,2023,the most influential "stingy men’s union" and "stingy women’s union" interest margin groups have reached 140000 and 600000 members,respectively.Understanding the cultural phenomenon of "new frugality" and its interest community helps to understand the media’s construction of social relationships in the context of consumerism.This study takes the Douban "stingy men’s federation" group as a case study,using a qualitative research method that combines participatory observation,narrative text analysis,and in-depth interviews to explain the phenomenon of new culture,understand the symbolic value and cultural significance of "stingy" in contemporary society,and interpret the behavioral motivation of "new frugality" dissemination practices in online interest communities by analyzing the self presentation behavior of "stingy" people,To promote a deeper understanding of Quyuan’s social and media contexts.By examining individual narrative texts from three aspects: narrative motivation,narrative therapy,and value empowerment,the study found that: the individual narratives of the "stingy man" group use "stingy" decontamination,nominalization,and reflexive planning as narrative motivations;The interactive narrative of the "stingy man" group has played a psychological healing role,and the Quyuan community has achieved a functional transformation from "platform oriented" to "healing oriented";The significance construction of individual narrative to achieve a "stingy" lifestyle.At the behavioral level,there is a role-playing phenomenon of "stinginess" in Quyuan social media,manifested as exaggerated self-expression behavior in the context of new media.On the one hand,social media endows the image of "stingy" with visibility."stingy" attempts to integrate traditional frugal discourse into individual life narratives,in order to disenchante the authority of consumerism discourse and perform independently on life taste,giving a stingy lifestyle style a sense of interest and fashion.On the other hand,relying on social media for interaction enables the "stingy" Quyuan community to have visibility into relationships.The "stingy" individuals are placed in a dual information context of online and offline,which not only strengthens group identity,but also accompanies the fragmentation of the "stingy" character imagination.The "stingy people" in the Quyuan group make stingy friends and establish Quyuan trust relationships out of a common value orientation,and engage in self-expression of stingy life;At the same time,based on the experience of the other object in the interest relationship,we construct an individual’s self-identity as a "stingy person".However,there is a gap between the identity and significance of "stingy" self expression in the online front desk and the structural social reality of consumer society.The significance of "stingy" behavior lies in the interest of value preferenceThe direction of fluctuations in order to adapt to the real behavior of the consumer society depends on the individual’s structural situation and their reflexive understanding based on both online and offline social contexts.With the reshaping of the daily lifestyle of young people with the new type of consumption through media,as well as the prevalence of consumerism and the explosive growth of consumer information,it is difficult for individuals to obtain the meaning of their current life from the value of consumerism,which has led to the existence anxiety of young people about their individual consumption life.The misappropriation of traditional frugal discourse by "stinginess" not only endows the spirit of "frugality" with "new" meaning,but also shows that individuals are trapped in the stimulation of consumerist materialism and the structural lack of consumption power,turning to the pursuit of simple and peaceful spirit.While achieving the performance of "new frugality" lifestyle taste,the anxiety of individual consumption life is amplified.Based on this,this article believes that social media not only plays a visible functional role,but also has a practical impact on self-expression and online interest culture,which needs to be deeply discussed in combination with the media context and real social background. |
