Digital Media and Self-stigma: a Qualitative Study of the Emerging Cultural Middle Class and Their Media Practices

Abstract: Class-making from a Bourdieusian perspective is an ongoing process based on cultural consumption connected with a specific class. Despite significant research on cultural consumption, little attention has been paid to the internal processes that can influence class-making. Previous research showed that the emerging cultural middle class is more prone than other classes to expect others to “look down on” their media practices. Based on various media and sociological theories, this thesis explored the relationships between the emerging cultural middle class, their media consumption and internal processes of stigma. Consequently, twenty qualitative in-depth interviews with the emerging cultural middle class were conducted that explored three research questions: how does the emerging cultural middle class describe their media practices, how they think about their media practices and what they believe others think of their practices and what are the imagined social origins of the stigmatization of their media practices. Results showed that the sample was digital cultural omnivores – consuming a range of media practices. Simultaneously, they were characterized by a self-reflexivity and self-criticism, implementing the self-stigma in the form of negative beliefs and thoughts about their media practices. The anticipated stigma was connected with practices that were “unproductive” (e.g. wasting time on social media), practices that the sample was not doing (e.g. not consuming the news) and taste-related practices (e.g. listening to jazz). Furthermore, three social origins of anticipated stigma were identified – based on generational distinctions, upper positions in the social space and other lifestyles. Summarizing, this study not only explored the media consumption of the emerging cultural middle class but also the presence of internal processes that influence cultural consumption and thus the process of class-making. By being anxious and self-reflexive regarding their media practices, they “maintained rank” and adapted to the logic of the “cultural” fields they aspired to enter.