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

论文研究：信息时代的变老：中美耻辱和网络社区的象征性互动研究

• 批准号: 0431373
• 负责人: Kim Fortun
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-15 至 2006-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0431373&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Growing; Older; Information

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.

这项科学技术研究论文改进补助金旨在产生有关互联网使用如何有助于身份形成的新知识，重点关注中国和美国两种文化背景下的老年互联网用户。具体来说，该研究的重点是老年人如何通过面向老年人的在线社区中发生的“虚拟”互动过程来应对与年老相关的耻辱。对耻辱的关注既能突出文化背景，又能提供一种追踪人们线上和线下生活的方法。本研究有三个主要目标：1）生成有关老年人在面向老年人的在线社区中互动的主要经验知识；2）探索老年人线上和线下世界的相互塑造；3）比较和对比中国和美国老年人的线上和线下互动。这些目标引出了三个主要研究问题：1）老年人如何在面向老年人的在线社区中互动并形成身份？ 2）老年人在现实世界中面临的老年耻辱与虚拟世界中的社交互动如何相互构成？ 3）美国老年互联网用户的老龄化体验与中国老年互联网用户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论指导：Blumer（1969）提出的符号互动的三个基本前提构成了该研究的基础，而Goffman（1963）理解耻辱和应对策略的框架将指导该项目。马修斯（Matthews，1979）关于年老是一种耻辱的论点将本研究与戈夫曼的工作联系起来。最后，Koufaris (2001) 对器官移植接受者使用互联网应对身份污名化的研究表明，老年人也可能以类似的方式使用互联网。由于线下情况在塑造线上互动方面发挥着至关重要的作用，因此本研究选择关注两个特定的老年人群体：美国老年人，他们是 SeniorNet 在线社区的成员，目前居住在纽约市；以及老年人，他们是 OldKids 在线社区的成员，目前居住在上海。通过匹配两个案例研究的虚拟和物理站点，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，以收集有关他们线上和线下体验的数据。将对这 50 个人的在线自我描述和讨论消息进行内容分析，以提供有关他们在线互动和身份的附加数据。数据分析将以扎根理论为指导（Glaser & Strauss，1967）。这项研究将为老龄化与技术以及不同文化中的技术使用研究做出重要的实证和理论贡献。具体来说，这项研究将1）产生关于老年人在网络社区中互动和身份形成的新实证数据，2）丰富有关线上和线下世界相互塑造的更广泛的文献，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，尤其是那些不是互联网用户的老年人，了解如何利用互联网来改善他们的老龄化经历和生活质量。向同行学习。经验表明，老年人可以更好地利用互联网上提供的资源和机会。这项研究的结果还可以揭示其他受到污名化的个人和群体如何利用互联网来应对类似情况。此外，这项研究还指出了采取适当、有效的社会和政治干预措施以促进老年人使用互联网的重要性。 因此，这项研究对于政策制定者、社会工作者和任何关心老年人的人来说都很有价值。