Media use and Chinese national social class identity: based on the mediating effect of social capital

The modern social media impact over the subjective cognition of the individuals should not be underestimated. According to the Chinese Comprehensive Social Survey data 2017, this article constructs a multiple mediation model as the mediating variable with social capital, and studies social capital's mediating role in the process of media use affecting social class identity. The research found that: (1) The application of established media and newly media has a chief impact on class identity; (2) Compared with new media, traditional media has a significant control over on class identity; (3) The two dimensions of social capital both demonstrates a considerable positive mediating role in the procedure of traditional media influencing class identification, and the mediation effect of social networks is stronger than social trust; (4) A significant role is being played by social media mediating role to process new media making class influential as the mediating impact of of having social trust is un-significant. The study's novelty lies in using social capital as an intermediary variable, exposing one of the impact channels of media consumption on class identity, and giving a new explanatory framework for the class identity influence mechanism.