1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910149358803321

Autore

McDonald Tom (Assistant professor of sociology)

Titolo

Social Media in Rural China : Social Networks and Moral Frameworks / / Tom McDonald

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London : , : UCL Press, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

1-910634-69-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resoource (xiii, 219 pages) : colour illustrations, 1 colour map

Collana

Why we post

Disciplina

302.2310951

Soggetti

Social media

Rural conditions

Country life

SOCIAL SCIENCE - Anthropology - Cultural

Country life - China

Social media - China

China

China Rural conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction and field site: down to the countryside -- 2. The social media landscape: visibility and economy -- 3. Visual postings: idealising family-love, marriage and 'little treasures' -- 4. Relationships: circles of friends, encounters with strangers -- 5. Moral accumulation: collecting credits on social media -- 6. Broader relations: the family, the state and social media -- 7. Conclusion: circles and strangers, media moralities and 'the Chinese internet' -- Appendix. Methodology.

Sommario/riassunto

China's distinctive social media platforms have gained notable popularity among the nation's vast number of internet users, but has China's countryside been 'left behind' in this communication revolution? Tom McDonald spent 15 months living in a small rural Chinese community researching how the residents use social media in their daily lives. His ethnographic findings suggest that, far from being left



behind, many rural Chinese people have already integrated social media into their everyday experience. Throughout his ground-breaking study, McDonald argues that social media allows rural people to extend and transform their social relationships by deepening already existing connections with friends known through their school, work or village, while also experimenting with completely new forms of relationships through online interactions with strangers, particularly when looking for love and romance. By juxtaposing these seemingly opposed relations, rural social media users are able to use these technologies to understand, capitalise on and challenge the notions of morality that underlie rural life.