EasterBlack-owned or founded brands at TargetGroceryClothing, Shoes & AccessoriesBabyHomeFurnitureKitchen & DiningOutdoor Living & GardenToysElectronicsVideo GamesMovies, Music & BooksSports & OutdoorsBeautyPersonal CareHealthPetsHousehold EssentialsArts, Crafts & SewingSchool & Office SuppliesParty SuppliesLuggageGift IdeasGift CardsClearanceTarget New ArrivalsTarget Finds#TargetStyleTop DealsTarget Circle DealsWeekly AdShop Order PickupShop Same Day DeliveryRegistryRedCardTarget CircleFind Stores

Social Media and Ordinary Life - (Critical Cultural Communication) by Cara Wallis (Paperback)

Social Media and Ordinary Life - (Critical Cultural Communication) by  Cara Wallis (Paperback) - 1 of 1
$30.00 when purchased online
Target Online store #3991

About this item

Highlights

  • How Chinese citizens use social media Focusing on domestic workers, rural microentrepreneurs, disadvantaged young creatives, and young feminists, Social Media and Ordinary Life is a deeply moving ethnography of how digital media infrastructures and platforms are woven into the rhythms of ordinary, everyday life.
  • About the Author: Cara Wallis is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan.
  • 296 Pages
  • Social Science, Media Studies
  • Series Name: Critical Cultural Communication

Description



Book Synopsis



How Chinese citizens use social media

Focusing on domestic workers, rural microentrepreneurs, disadvantaged young creatives, and young feminists, Social Media and Ordinary Life is a deeply moving ethnography of how digital media infrastructures and platforms are woven into the rhythms of ordinary, everyday life. In choosing to foreground marginalized groups and communities, Cara Wallis gently shifts our attention away from the world of "social media influencers" and tech-centric discourses of entrepreneurial lives towards a decidedly ambivalent terrain of routine life practices.

Social Media and Ordinary Life argues that understanding these individual experiences of the everyday enables greater insight into larger transformations taking place in contemporary China. Through long-term ethnographic fieldwork across China, Wallis foregrounds the entanglement of affect, emotion, ordinary ethical decisions, and desires connected to social media as it is used for self-expression, self-representation, fights for equality, maintenance of community, and economic livelihood. Four case studies show how social media is integrated into the articulation of affects by a wide variety of "ordinary" Chinese subjects: disadvantaged young creatives who migrate to Beijing from rural areas and use social media to cultivate their personal aesthetics; micro-entrepreneurs in rural Shandong province, especially women whose affective ties to the patriarchal family constrain their use of technology for economic enhancement; domestic workers, all women, in urban homes who use social media to build community and construct themselves as ethical subjects; and young feminists spread across China who engage in various types of cultural production and deploy social media in their fight for gender equality, often facing social and/or political marginalization in the process.

Amid daunting forces-big data, artificial intelligence, massive surveillance-this book centers the "small," showing how structural inequality, the urban/rural divide, patriarchal gender norms, and generational differences lead to contradictory or ambivalent outcomes of technology use. Even so, for these individuals and many others, social media is deeply intertwined with aspirations for a better future.



Review Quotes




"Based on over a decade of research and a deep understanding of Chinese society and its transformations, Cara Wallis uses social media as a lens through which to tell the story of social life in 21st-century China. Combining theoretical sophistication with ethnographic sensitivity, this book is a richly detailed and astute account of everyday life and technological mediation. It will be required reading for anyone interested in social media and China by one of the most eminent scholars in the field."-- "Mirca Madianou, author of Technocolonialism: When Technology for Good is Harmful"

"Through longitudinal ethnographic research, Cara Wallis provides innovative analyses of labor, technology, and aspirations for a better future in China. Wallis delves into Chinese cultural traditions and insightfully engages affect theory, Western literature on neoliberalism, and Chinese notions of ethics and morality to develop the concept of a neo/non-liberal China. Social Media and Ordinary Life makes significant and distinctive contributions to studies in communication, labor, and gender from ethical, affective, and psychological perspectives."-- "Jie Yang, Simon Fraser University"



About the Author



Cara Wallis is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Technomobility in China: Young Migrant Women and Mobile Phones, and her articles have been published in numerous journals, including Feminist Media Studies and New Media & Society.
Dimensions (Overall): 8.9 Inches (H) x 6.0 Inches (W) x 1.1 Inches (D)
Weight: 1.28 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Series Title: Critical Cultural Communication
Sub-Genre: Media Studies
Genre: Social Science
Number of Pages: 296
Publisher: New York University Press
Format: Paperback
Author: Cara Wallis
Language: English
Street Date: April 29, 2025
TCIN: 93798176
UPC: 9781479825066
Item Number (DPCI): 247-30-0259
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
If the item details above aren’t accurate or complete, we want to know about it.

Shipping details

Estimated ship dimensions: 1.1 inches length x 6 inches width x 8.9 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 1.28 pounds
We regret that this item cannot be shipped to PO Boxes.
This item cannot be shipped to the following locations: American Samoa (see also separate entry under AS), Guam (see also separate entry under GU), Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico (see also separate entry under PR), United States Minor Outlying Islands, Virgin Islands, U.S., APO/FPO

Return details

This item can be returned to any Target store or Target.com.
This item must be returned within 90 days of the date it was purchased in store, shipped, delivered by a Shipt shopper, or made ready for pickup.
See the return policy for complete information.

Related Categories

Get top deals, latest trends, and more.

Privacy policy

Footer

About Us

About TargetCareersNews & BlogTarget BrandsBullseye ShopSustainability & GovernancePress CenterAdvertise with UsInvestorsAffiliates & PartnersSuppliersTargetPlus

Help

Target HelpReturnsTrack OrdersRecallsContact UsFeedbackAccessibilitySecurity & FraudTeam Member Services

Stores

Find a StoreClinicPharmacyTarget OpticalMore In-Store Services

Services

Target Circle™Target Circle™ CardTarget Circle 360™Target AppRegistrySame Day DeliveryOrder PickupDrive UpFree 2-Day ShippingShipping & DeliveryMore Services
PinterestFacebookInstagramXYoutubeTiktokTermsCA Supply ChainPrivacyCA Privacy RightsYour Privacy ChoicesInterest Based AdsHealth Privacy Policy