©2016 YU ZHANG ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DIGITAL CAPITAL AND SOCIAL ELITES IN CHINA By YU ZHANG A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Communication, Information, and Library Studies Written under the direction of John V. Pavlik, Ph.D. And approved by New Brunswick, New Jersey October, 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION DIGITAL CAPITAL AND SOCIAL ELITES IN CHINA by YU ZHANG Dissertation Director: John V. Pavlik, Ph.D. Digital communication in China has seen huge development over the past decades, and promised great potential in networking and mobilizing various social groups, and even bringing along social and political changes. Interestingly, as a highly visible social force in the digital era, elites are oftentimes invisible in literature, or haven’t been paid as much attention as they deserve. This research works to make this up by examining how elites construct, transform, and mobilize their identities both online and offline. The discussion is framed around classic social capital theories, which emphasize the importance of norms, resources, and network in the social structure. In order to better serve my discussion on digital communication, I propose the term “digital capital,” which is a resource generated by symbolic exchange in the digital network, and can possibly be converted into economic, social, and cultural capital both online and offline, to refer to the digital representation of social capital. The microblogging service sina weibo is the main site formy case study research. By analyzing the most popular online campaign, online legends, and online popular talks over the past few years in China, I argue that social elite exists in the social hierarchy as a fluid continuum that connects with and permeates into higher and lower levels by going beyond others’ expectations and extending its ability to mobilize withinthe huge network around it. According to Lin (2001), higher initial statuses, higher level of ii education, and stronger extensity of ties, all add to one’s ability to accumulate network resources. And more network resources to use, a wider radius of trust within the network, and better ability to mobilize around different identities as a responsible social being are key requirements for someone to become elite. Interestingly, the Internet has created a better chance for ordinary people to cross the boundary and get close to, or even enter, the elite circle. A good amount of clicks online can easily build up a huge network for an ordinary person to gain more access to social resources and more ability to mobilize around different social groups. Only if the grassroots power is able to construct overarching identities in the society and comply with the rules or expectations the public has set for him/her, can the society witness a boundary-crossing moment taking place. Therefore, top-down agenda and bottom-up force will collaborate within the social structure to initiate collective agency. Many cases have evidenced that, besides the nature of connecting similar people to generate more bonding digital capital within the network, the Internet has also boosted the network’s capability in bridging different social identities for collective actions with instrumental purposes. But these single cases do not really indicate a more democratic society in China. Social elites, though oftentimes regarded as resources for ordinary people to retrieve more information, are indeed more of a regulation for Chinese citizens in terms of exerting subtle influence on how they think and speak. In this sense, I argue, what digital communication has brought to Chinese society is networked citizenship, where Chinese citizens are still being passively included in a huge network, only in the name of empowerment. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7 years at Rutgers have not only taught me how to become a better academic researcher, but also guided me to become involved with many inspiring and loving individuals. I would not have completed this study without their guidance and advice. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr. John Pavlik, for his continuous encouragement, patience, care, and support during my graduate study. He is always there whenever I need professional opinions or feel lost or distracted. Millions of thanks to other members of my dissertation committee: Dr. Susan Keith, Dr. Louisa Schein, and Dr. Khadijah White. Dr. Keith’s warm encouragement helped me through the first couple of years as an international graduate student to take part in academic activities, and I benefit so much from her careful instructions on every detail of my work and plan. Dr. Schein inspires me in looking into China studies from different perspectives, and introduces me to various names, scholars, and institutions. By talking to them, I gradually understand what I am interested in and good at. Dr. White always gives detailed feedback on my research, and shares her valuable experiences with me regarding how to make the dissertation writing journey more smooth yet fruitful. I consider myself very lucky to have found this helpful and caring committee. Their support meant very much to me, especially in my most difficult days. The faculty of the School of Communication and Information (SC&I) of Rutgers University has provided great resources and help throughout my graduate study. Special thanks to our previous faculty member Dr. David Karpf, from whose class I first got the idea of studying citizenship and elites in China, and learned how to do political communication in media studies. I also would like to thank Dr. Jack Bratich, Dr. Montague Kern, Dr. Deepa Kumar, Dr. iv Regina Marchi, Dr. Marie Radford, Dr. Craig Scott, and Dr. Todd Wolfson for inspiring my research in different ways. I have also benefited by talking with many scholars outside of SC&I. Thank you, Dr. Paul Schalow, Dr. Richard Simmons, Dr. Mary Trigg, Dr. Xun Wang, Dr. Haiqing Yu, and Dr. Xian Zhou, for enriching my insights in new media and China by bringing in your perspectives from various disciplines. I wouldn’t have gone this far without the friendship I have gained during the past 7 years. My cohort graduate students, Katie McCollough, Sheena Raja, Dr. Aaron Trammell, Dr. Heewon Kim, Dr. Jonathan Bullinger, and Dr. Stephen DiDomenico, your lovely support has helped me so much in going through the first few semesters. To my other friends in Rutgers, Dr. Chang Liu, Zhe Li, Dr. Jing Ning, Si Sun, Jing Wang, Yuan Yuan, Ying-Chao Kao, Dr. Zhenhong Bao, Dr. Baiyang Liu, Dr. Qibin Zhou, Dr. Hong Yang, Dr. Zichao Gu, Dr. Dong Dai, Dr. Wenqin Wang, Dr. Xiangyue Wu, Dr. Gang Liu, and many others: I am so grateful that I met you here, so that my Ph.D. journey was full of joy. I would also like to thank SC&I, the Graduate School of Rutgers-New Brunswick, and the Chinese Scholarship Council, for their financial support in my earlier years of graduate study. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my family, especially my mom and husband, who have shared so much love, and helped me with anything they could do. And to my children, Lilianna and Brayden, you make each and every day amazingly beautiful, and make me have faith in myself. v DEDICATION To my father, Jianguo Zhang. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION………………………………………………………ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………..…………………………………………………..iv DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………………..vi TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………………vii LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………….…………….viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS…………………………………………………………………...ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….1 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW—WHO ARE ELITES?..........................................14 CHAPTER 3. METHODS………………………………………………………………….….47 CHAPTER 4. CONSTRUCTION OF ELITES’ IDENTITIES……………………………...61 CHAPTER 5. TRANSFORMATION AND MOBILIZATION OF ELITES’ IDENTITIES…………………………………………………...103 CHAPTER 6. IMPLICATIONS ON CITIZENSHIP IN CHINA……………………….....140 CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………….….170 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………………180 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………..….195 vii List of Tables Table 1 China’s Internet Growth 1997-2014…………………………………………...…………5 viii List of Illustrations Image 1 Size of Internet users in China and Internet penetration rate…………..……………….15 Image 2 Distribution of major ICTs by income group of economies……………………………20 Image 3 China’s digital divide in urban and rural netizen structure…………………….……….22 Image 4 China’s digital divide in netizens’ education levels……………………………………23 Image 5 China’s digital divide in netizens’ income levels………….…………………………...24 Image 6 Reasons that prevent Chinese from using the Internet…………………………………25 Image 7 Increase of active weibo users month by month………………………………………..58 Image 8 Lin’s (2001) social capital model of status attainment…………………………………65 Image 9 One post from the online campaign of “Raise Your Hand, Rescue a Child”……….….67 Image 10 Yu’s weibo page with profile picture……………………………………………….…74 Image 11 Yu’s post with whole picture of the woman in profile picture………………………..75 Image 12 Chen’s weibo page with profile information and a typical post………………………82 Image 13 Chen’s weibo page with profile picture………………………………………….……83 Image 14 Han’s weibo page with profile picture…………………………………………….…..86 Image 15 Weibo influence index for Han………………………………………………………..87 Image 16 Pop-up window to send Han flowers on weibo…………………………………….…89