Dissertation Research: Growing Older in the Information Age: A Symbolic Interactionist Study of Stigma and Online Community in China and the United States

这个科学和技术研究论文改进补助金旨在产生关于互联网使用如何有助于身份形成的新知识，重点关注两种文化背景下的老年互联网用户：中国和美国。具体来说，这项研究的重点是老年人如何科普老年人相关的耻辱通过“虚拟”的互动过程中发生的老年人为导向的在线社区。关注耻辱感既可以突出文化背景，也可以提供一种跟踪人们在线和离线生活的方法。本研究有三个主要目的：1）生成关于老年人在线社区互动的初步经验知识，2）探索老年人在线和离线世界的相互塑造，3）比较和对比中国和美国老年人的在线和离线互动。这些目标导致了三个主要的研究问题：1）老年人如何互动，并形成在老年人为导向的在线社区的身份？2)老年人在现实世界中面临的与老年有关的耻辱和在虚拟世界中发生的社会互动是如何相互构成的？3）美国老年互联网用户的老龄化经历与中国老年互联网用户的老龄化经历有何不同和相似之处？符号互动主义的观点将为探索这些研究问题提供理论和方法上的指导：Blumer（1969）提出的符号互动的三个基本前提构成了研究的基础，而Goffman（1963）的理解污名和应对策略的框架将指导本项目。马修斯（1979）认为，年老是一种耻辱，这一观点将本研究与戈夫曼的研究联系起来。最后，Koufaris（2001年）关于器官移植接受者使用互联网科普污名化身份的研究表明，老年人以类似方式使用互联网的可能性。由于离线情况在塑造在线互动中起着至关重要的作用，因此本研究选择关注两个特定的老年人群体：目前居住在纽约市的SeniorNet在线社区成员的美国老年人，以及目前居住在上海的OldKids在线社区成员的中国老年人。通过对两个案例研究的虚拟和物理站点进行匹配，本研究可以探索线上和线下体验的相互塑造。两个小组各有25名成员将接受采访，以收集他们在线和离线体验的数据。这50个人的在线自我描述和讨论信息的内容分析将被进行，以提供关于他们的在线互动和身份的额外数据。数据分析将以扎根理论（Glaser Strauss，1967）为指导。本研究将为老龄化与技术、技术在不同文化中的应用等方面的研究做出重要的实证和理论贡献。具体而言，本研究将1）产生关于老年人在在线社区中的互动和身份形成的新的经验数据，2）丰富在线和离线世界相互塑造的更大文献，3）有助于更好地理解信息时代中美文化之间的差异和相似之处。这项研究的一个广泛影响将是帮助老年人，特别是那些不使用互联网的人，了解如何使用互联网来改善他们的老龄化体验和生活质量。向同龄人学习。通过这些经验，老年人可以更好地利用互联网上的资源和机会。这项研究的结果也可以揭示其他受侮辱的个人和群体如何利用互联网来科普类似的情况。此外，这项研究指出，必须采取适当、有效的社会和政治干预措施，促进老年人使用互联网。 因此，这项研究对政策制定者、社会工作者和任何关心老年人的人都有价值。

This Science and Technology Studies Dissertation Improvement Grant aims to produce new knowledge about how Internet use contributes to identity formation, focusing on older Internet users in two cultural contexts: China and the United States. Specifically, the study focuses on how older people cope with oldness-associated stigma through the process of "virtual" interaction that takes place in senior-oriented online communities. A focus on stigma will both foreground cultural contexts and provide a way to track between people's online and offline lives. This study has three main objectives: 1) to generate primary empirical knowledge about older adults' interactions in senior-oriented online communities, 2) to explore the mutual shaping of older adults' online and offline worlds, and 3) to compare and contrast older adults' online and offline interactions in China and the US. These objectives lead to three primary research questions: 1) How do older adults interact and form identities in senior-oriented online communities? 2) How do the oldness-related stigma that older adults face in the physical world and the social interaction that takes place in the virtual world mutually constitute each other? And 3) How is the aging experience of older American Internet users different from and similar to that of older Chinese Internet users? The symbolic interactionist perspective will provide theoretical and methodological guidance for exploring these research questions: the three basic premises of symbolic interaction addressed by Blumer (1969) form the foundation of the study, while Goffman's (1963) framework for understanding stigma and coping strategies will direct this project. Matthews's (1979) argument that oldness is a stigma bridges this study and Goffman's work. Finally, Koufaris's (2001) work on organ transplant recipients using the Internet to cope with stigmatized identity suggests the possibilities of older adults using the Internet in similar ways. Because offline situations play a crucial role in shaping online interactions, this study chooses to focus on two specific groups of older adults: older Americans who are members of the SeniorNet online community and currently live in New York City, and older Chinese who are members of the OldKids online community and currently live in Shanghai. By matching both the virtual and physical sites of the two case studies, this study can explore the mutual shaping of online and offline experiences. Twenty-five members of each of the two groups will be interviewed to collect data about their online and offline experiences. Content analysis of these fifty people's online self- descriptions and discussion messages will be conducted to provide additional data about their online interactions and identities. Data analysis will be guided by grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). This study will make important empirical and theoretical contributions to studies on aging and technology, and on technology use in different cultures. Specifically, this study will 1) produce new empirical data about older adults' interaction and identity formation in online communities, 2) enrich the larger literature on the mutual shaping of online and offline worlds, and 3) contribute to a better understanding of the differences and similarities between Chinese and American cultures in the information age. One broad impact of this study will be to help older adults, especially those who aren't Internet users, understand how the Internet can be used to improve their aging experience and quality of life. Learning from their peers. experiences, older adults can make better use of the resources and opportunities available on the Internet. The findings of this study can also shed light on how other stigmatized individuals and groups may employ the Internet to cope with similar situations. Furthermore, this study points out the importance of having appropriate, effective social and political interventions to facilitate older adults' use of the Internet. Therefore, this study can be valuable to policy makers, social workers, and anyone else who cares about older adults.