The middle class and the media in post-war Japanese mass society theory: domination, satisfaction, connection, and construction.
The inconsistency between an objective socioeconomic position and subjective sense of belonging is challenging for middle class studies. Scholars have argued that the information and images the media conveys can become a 'reference group' influencing people's subjective sense of belonging to the mid...
| Publicado en: | Japan Forum Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 204 - 228 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jun2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=185256503&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 185256503 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09555803 5BH jtl: Japan Forum issn: 09555803 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2025 vid: 37 iid: 2 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 185256503 10.1080/09555803.2024.2411016 ppf: 204 ppct: 24 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 185256503 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 185256503 tig: atl: The middle class and the media in post-war Japanese mass society theory: domination, satisfaction, connection, and construction. aug: au: Zhou, Abigail Qian su: Japan Satisfaction Media studies Scholars Logic sug: subj: Satisfaction Media studies Scholars Logic Japan keyword: mass society theory media middle class post-war Japan sense of belonging mass society theory media middle class post-war Japan sense of belonging ab: The inconsistency between an objective socioeconomic position and subjective sense of belonging is challenging for middle class studies. Scholars have argued that the information and images the media conveys can become a 'reference group' influencing people's subjective sense of belonging to the middle class, leading to subjective-objective inconsistency. However, the media—the crucial influencing factor—was always on the periphery of class research. This article demonstrates that in today's media-saturated world, the media plays a critical role in progressively altering social structures, cognitive underpinnings, and behavioral logic; therefore, it is a key variable in class studies. The analysis of discussions on the middle class and media in post-war Japanese mass society theory reveals that some representative viewpoints remain relevant for understanding the middle class from a media perspective. This article revisits the theories of mass society in post-war Japan, and affirms the media's role in mediating subjective and objective middle-class identities, and constructing class belongingness. It identifies four fundamental perspectives—domination, satisfaction, connection, and construction—to investigate the relationship between media and the middle class. It also highlights the potential to analyze the middle class from a media standpoint, and issues that subsequent research should address. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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