| Social class reflects the social resources owned by individuals(income,education level,occupational status)and subjective perception of social class.In China,social class is a topic that is not often mentioned,but it affects every aspect of our life and every stage of growth,such as the environment in which people live,different cultural preferences,entertainment,daily communication methods,and language habits.Even our social decisions such as the choice of friends,romantic partners,and colleagues are deeply influenced by social class.However,this process is not one-way.These information related to the level of education,income,and status,in turn,will strengthen the existing economic system as signs of social class,called “social class solidification”.According to the model proposed by Kraus,the process of social class solidification is premised on the accurate and fast detection of social class signals.Therefore,the detection of social class is the basis of solidification.The innovation of this research is mainly reflected in two aspects.First,we consider the influence of China's national conditions and Chinese cultural psychology on class judgment.At present,most of the research on class signals is based on Western cultural backgrounds.The cross-cultural consistency has not been verified.This study uses Chinese social networking platforms and Chinese participants in the Chinese context.At the same time,we explore the influence of ”Face” orientation on the accuracy of class judgment.Secondly,the current research on class judgment is mainly carried out in face-to-face communication.Few studies pay attention to the accuracy of class judgment in virtual world.With the rapid development of the Internet,it plays an important role in our lives.Compared with face-to-face communication,the Internet platform has the characteristics of high openness and high degree of freedom,and its information types and forms are also different from real life.Therefore,it is necessary to summarize the transmission and detection of social class signals in the Internet world.This study mainly solves three main problems: First,we explore the accuracy of social class detection in the Internet environment.Does observer accurately infer targets' social class based on 20 status updates? Furthermore,we also need to explore whether the Chinese "face" orientation affect the accuracy of class detection.The "face" orientation affects people's behavior.People who are inclined to acquire face will adopt impression management strategies such as exaggeration.On the contrary,those who tend to protect face will adopt a strategy of modesty,which may cause some interference to the signal of social class.Second,the existing research has not systematically summarized the social class signals in the Internet environment.We will systematically summarize the social class signals used in the social class detection through qualitative analysis.From the aspects of signal types and expressions,we compare the differences in the class signals used in the face-to-face communication and virtual world.In addition,we also used the lens model to measure the effectiveness and utilization of the social class signals associated with class stereotypes,Third,we explored the impact of class detection on the solidification of the social class in the virtual world.It mainly measures the extent to which the observer is affected by the class information in the aspects of affiliation and resource sharing strategies.It is helpful for understanding the process of solidifying class in the Internet environment.Study 1(a)using the experimental method,found that the observers can infer targets' objective social class based on the 20 states updates,and the inference accuracy is higher than the random level.This shows that the information in the virtual world can make the observers make relatively accurate class judgment.The first stage of the class solidification model is established,but we also find that the research results are different from the existing research.Observers' detection of social class had a significant negative correlation with the self-report subjective social class.This is completely contrary to the results of Western studies.On the one hand,this phenomenon may caused by China's national conditions,on the other hand,it may be due to the influence of Chinese traditional "ZhongYong" culture.Study 1(b)finds that the Chinese "face" orientation does not affect the accuracy of class detection.We explain it from four aspects of "strong-tie" such as social platform,feedback of material content,observers' judgment of fake signals,and cultural change..Study 2(a)summarizes the types and specific forms of class signals used in class judgment through qualitative analysis,mainly including entertainment methods,appearance temperament,personal items,social relationships,language style,knowledge experience and norm-violation behaviors.There are seven types of clues.The types of these clues are generally consistent with the signals used in real life.But there are differences in expressions,such as information in the Internet environment is static.While in real life,it is mostly a process of dynamic interaction.Norm-violation behaviors are easily observed in the Internet environment,probably due to the relatively loose environment of the Internet environment.Study 2(b)used the lens model to measure the effectiveness and utilization of the clues related to competitiveness and extroversion,and found that the clues related to competitiveness and extroversion have good effectiveness and utilization.This shows that the observers can identify clues containing true hierarchical information and use these clues to make social class judgments,which also verifies the results of Study 1(a).Study 3 found that the hierarchical information in the Internet world can influence the decision of the observers.The research results show that the observers show higher affiliation and resource sharing willingness to the targets from high class,although they also show higher affiliation to the targets sharing their social class,but considering the homogeneity of resources held by similar class.This did not help low class move to the higher class.In this case,people from high social class have advantages of socialization and access to resources,which in turn strengthens the existing distribution system and exacerbates the problem of class solidification.In summary,we draw the following conclusions:(1)The observers can infer the social class of targets based on the 20 states updates from WeChat,and the accuracy rate is higher than the random level.(2)The Chinese “face” orientation does not affect the transmission and accurate reception of class signals.(3)The class clues used in the Internet environment are roughly the same as the class clues used in real life,but there are still some differences in the types and expressions of signals.(4)In the Internet environment,the clues related to competitiveness and extroversion are detected.These clues are valid and are used by the observers as a basis for class judgment.(5)The transmission of class signals in the virtual world affects affiliation and resource sharing decisions in real life,which enable people to make decisions that benefit people from high social class,and solidify the existing class. |
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