A Review of Internet Use and Residents’ Subjective Social Class Identification: A Systematic Comparison of Digital Dividend and Social Comparison Mechanisms

Abstract

The popularization of the Internet is changing the way people perceive their own social position. Whether and how subjective class identification is shaped by Internet use has become an important issue in research on digital social stratification. Taking the two mechanisms of digital dividend and social comparison as the main line, this review sorts out twenty-six representative studies at home and abroad since 2005. It covers the measurement and formation mechanisms of subjective class identification, the theoretical basis and empirical evidence of the influence of the Internet on identification, the sources of divergence between the two schools, and group heterogeneity. The analysis shows that most studies confirm that Internet use significantly affects subjective class identification, but the direction of the findings is divided into two schools: the promotion thesis and the downward-bias thesis. The divergence mainly comes from the fact that each side tests only a single mechanism, uses different measurement calibers, and relies on incomparable samples, rather than from an irreconcilable effect of the Internet itself. The same mechanism varies in strength across groups. Older adults and farmers show patterns different from those of young people and highly educated groups. Existing studies still have gaps in the systematic comparison of mechanisms and the testing of comparison-sensitive groups. Future research may test the relative strength of the two paths within the same data and the same measurement framework, and conduct group-based analysis by combining use types and status positions.