底层群体为何拒用智能手机?——基于重庆棒棒的扎根研究

Why do the underclass refuse to use smartphones?——Based on the grounded research of Chongqing porter group

本文基于传播学领域的底层研究展开,采用扎根理论,选取重庆棒棒对底层群体的智能手机拒用动因进行研究,对既往底层媒介使用研究进行了补充。经三级编码后,本文提炼出消费保守主义、熟人社会、“弱者”身份建构3个核心解释范畴。研究认为,消费保守主义构成了这一群体拒用智能手机的观念基础,熟人社会的人际交往模式则消解了智能手机在工作场域中使用的必要性,为他们的拒用行为提供了实际支持;底层群体在主客观层面均高度认同“弱者”身份,而智能手机作为与弱者形象互斥的元素被弃置。消费保守主义和熟人社会根植于棒棒的乡土观念,“弱者”身份则源于长期的社会排斥与刻板认知。二者之间相互递推、动态互构,智能手机因此成为底层棒棒的一种负担。经验表明,底层群体的智能手机拒用行为渗透着理性考量,可以视作对新技术浪潮的日常抵抗行动,这为反思数字鸿沟理论提供了情境化理解。

Based on the underclass research in the communication studies,this paper adopts the grounded theory and selects the stick-men(Chongqing Bangbang) to study the motivation of underclass to refuse to use smartphones.Through encoding,it extracted 28 concepts,7 sub-areas and 3 main areas including consumer conservatism,acquaintance society and “weak” identity construction.The study indicates that consumer conservatism constitutes the conceptual basis of the refusal of the underclass to use the smart phone,and the interpersonal communication mode of the acquaintance society dissolves the necessity of the use of the smart phone in the workplace,providing practical support for their refusal;the underclass highly agrees with the identity of the “weak” at the subjective and objective levels,and the smart phone is discarded as an element that is mutually exclusive with the image of the weak.Consumer conservatism and acquaintance society are rooted in the rural ideas of “Chongqing Bangbang”,while the identity of the “weak” stems from long-term social exclusion and stereotypes.Due to the mutual recursion and dynamic mutual construction of the two factors,smartphones are recognized as a burden on the underclass.The research has shown that smartphone denial among the underprivileged is permeated with rational considerations and can be regarded as a daily resistance to the wave of new technologies,providing a contextualized understanding for reflection on digital divide theory.