A tale of three cities : digital media, everyday life, and the social integration of gay new arrivals
(2023) MKVM13 20231Media and Communication Studies
Department of Communication and Media
- Abstract
- Sustaining ontological security is crucial to people in life transitions, without which they will be in bad mental conditions. Media scholars have focused on media roles in the everyday life of people in life transitions for years. However, they rarely dive into the topic from this perspective. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis is to fill this gap; and I will do it by investigating how gay new arrivals would like to use digital media in everyday life in the new living environment. New arrivals, obviously, are people in life transitions whose everyday life is yet to be stable. Since their life is unstable, their media use, for example, use Google Maps, is not merely for primary needs such as navigation. More profoundly, their media... (More)
- Sustaining ontological security is crucial to people in life transitions, without which they will be in bad mental conditions. Media scholars have focused on media roles in the everyday life of people in life transitions for years. However, they rarely dive into the topic from this perspective. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis is to fill this gap; and I will do it by investigating how gay new arrivals would like to use digital media in everyday life in the new living environment. New arrivals, obviously, are people in life transitions whose everyday life is yet to be stable. Since their life is unstable, their media use, for example, use Google Maps, is not merely for primary needs such as navigation. More profoundly, their media use relates to ontological security. The second aim of this thesis is about the social integration of gay immigrants. For immigrants, the reorientation of everyday life in new environments actually parallels the social integration process. However, the social integration of gay immigrants could be a much more complex issue, given their intersectional identities.
This thesis achieves these aims with the non-media-centric approach. This approach allows researchers to consider people’s movements and symbolic interactions when investigating their everyday media practices. This approach has been used with the combination of other theories and concepts, such as media ideologies, polymedia, and mobility. The consequence of the thesis is based on two-week fieldwork in three EU cities (Katowice, Kraków, and Paris). The methods for materials gathering include participant observation, semi-structured interviews, media go-along, casual talks, and autoethnography. The consequences of the thesis are based on the stories of nine Chinese gay new arrivals living in the three cities.
Findings of the thesis show that the reorientation of gay new arrivals’ everyday life begins with the reorientation of digital media. Digital media help their everyday life by satisfying their four-dimensional needs in everyday life: temporospatial and sociocultural. Therefore, the primary reason for media adoption is people’s everyday life needs. The deeper reason relates to the certainty and continuity of identities that are sustained by digital media. Besides, the thesis found that the degrees of social integration is determined by gay new arrivals’ expectations of the host society. Although digital media facilitate social integration through joining the everyday life of gay new arrivals, the ‘real’ social integration just takes place when gay new arrivals find their media at hand are no more significant. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9114483
- author
- Huang, Zhaowu LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MKVM13 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- gay new arrivals, everyday life, digital media, social integration
- language
- English
- id
- 9114483
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-12 07:17:20
- date last changed
- 2023-06-12 07:17:20
@misc{9114483,
abstract = {{Sustaining ontological security is crucial to people in life transitions, without which they will be in bad mental conditions. Media scholars have focused on media roles in the everyday life of people in life transitions for years. However, they rarely dive into the topic from this perspective. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis is to fill this gap; and I will do it by investigating how gay new arrivals would like to use digital media in everyday life in the new living environment. New arrivals, obviously, are people in life transitions whose everyday life is yet to be stable. Since their life is unstable, their media use, for example, use Google Maps, is not merely for primary needs such as navigation. More profoundly, their media use relates to ontological security. The second aim of this thesis is about the social integration of gay immigrants. For immigrants, the reorientation of everyday life in new environments actually parallels the social integration process. However, the social integration of gay immigrants could be a much more complex issue, given their intersectional identities.
This thesis achieves these aims with the non-media-centric approach. This approach allows researchers to consider people’s movements and symbolic interactions when investigating their everyday media practices. This approach has been used with the combination of other theories and concepts, such as media ideologies, polymedia, and mobility. The consequence of the thesis is based on two-week fieldwork in three EU cities (Katowice, Kraków, and Paris). The methods for materials gathering include participant observation, semi-structured interviews, media go-along, casual talks, and autoethnography. The consequences of the thesis are based on the stories of nine Chinese gay new arrivals living in the three cities.
Findings of the thesis show that the reorientation of gay new arrivals’ everyday life begins with the reorientation of digital media. Digital media help their everyday life by satisfying their four-dimensional needs in everyday life: temporospatial and sociocultural. Therefore, the primary reason for media adoption is people’s everyday life needs. The deeper reason relates to the certainty and continuity of identities that are sustained by digital media. Besides, the thesis found that the degrees of social integration is determined by gay new arrivals’ expectations of the host society. Although digital media facilitate social integration through joining the everyday life of gay new arrivals, the ‘real’ social integration just takes place when gay new arrivals find their media at hand are no more significant.}},
author = {{Huang, Zhaowu}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{A tale of three cities : digital media, everyday life, and the social integration of gay new arrivals}},
year = {{2023}},
}