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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
The Consumption Practices and Identity Formation of the Chinese Middle Class in the Media Era
Author(s)
Abigail Qian Zhou
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DOI:10.17265/1537-1506/2019.04.002
Affiliation(s)
Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan
ABSTRACT
During the past 40 years
following the reform and opening-up policy of 1978, China’s social structure has seen great changes, which include
the birth and rapid development of the Chinese middle class as a
derivative and consequence of modernization. They are the main source of
consumption in contemporary China and display unique characteristics in their
consumption practices. Consumption is not only a daily practice, but also a
means of demonstrating and forming identity. In this media era, media play an
important role in people’s consumption practices and identity formation. In
this study, semi-structured interviews were carried out with members of the
Chinese middle class to study the relationship between consumption, identity,
and media through their oral accounts. Moreover, problems, including the
characteristics of middle-class consumption practices and how they use
consumption to form identity, were analyzed. This study not only complements studies
on the sociology of consumption of the Chinese middle class, but also is of
great practical significance for deepening our understanding of the behavioral
and ideological characteristics of the Chinese middle class.
KEYWORDS
Chinese middle class, consumption, identity, media
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