The representation of middle class in Chinese magazine : a multimodal critical discourse analysis

Abstract

The dissertation investigates the representation of the middle class in Chinese magazine advertisements. It argues that the middle class functions as a discourse rather than a fixed social structure, encouraged by the government and promoted by the media. The data for this research are 291 print advertisements sampled from Life Week magazine from the year 1995 to 2021. My research method is multimodal critical discourse analysis. Social semiotics is used to examine the interplay between visual and verbal data in the creation of meaning, while critical discourse analysis (CDA) serves as a theoretical framework to examine the dialectical relationship between the representation of the middle class and the broader social context in China. The study focuses on how these representations contribute to the reproduction of class inequality and the perpetuation of cultural hegemony in China. The findings suggest that the middle class is represented as a homogenous group of consumers, predominantly heterosexual Chinese male adults, urban intellectuals, and white-collar workers with significant cultural capital and purchasing power. The discussion emphasizes the role of consumer culture in exacerbating social stratification in China and suggests that such representations may reinforce cultural hegemony within the aspiring middle class. Additionally, it highlights how these representations perpetuate existing social hierarchies and inequalities rooted in gender, education, and regional disparities.