中産階層向けの雑誌・新聞による「小資文化」の差異化：『上海壹週』の分析を中心に

抄録

    This article focuses on the question of how the ’Xiaozi culture’ created in China in the early 2000s and regarded as the media culture of the new urban middle class achieved differentiation from other stratified cultures. ’Xiaozi culture’ was characterized by apathy towards politics, a fervor for consumption, worship of global culture and cultural omnivorousness in which highbrow culture and popular culture coexisted. How these characteristics contributed to the differentiation of ’Xiaozi culture’ is investigated from the perspective of the cultural capital of media workers from elite universities of 1980s. Focusing on the middle-class magazines and newspapers that are at the center of the production system of the ’Xiaozi culture’, this analysis employs Shanghai Weekly, the most representative ’Xiaozi’ magazine (newspaper), as a case study. First, the editorial and management policies of Shanghai Weekly were clarified through a biographical analysis of the editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief, Chen Baoping and Xu Husheng. Then, a comparison with other stratified cultures was performed in terms of front-page design, column placement and content production location information, in order to analyze the function of cultural capital in specific media practices. The results show that the editorial team of Shanghai Weekly consciously differentiated ’Xiaozi culture’ from ’official newspaper culture’ and ’masses culture’ by employing three strategies: (1) excluding politics and emphasizing consumerism, (2) focusing on Western culture within global culture (Western culture orientation), and (3) emphasizing the niche nature of the cultural market (limited acceptance orientation). It was also confirmed that the cultural capital of elite university students contributed to generating such strategies.