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Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Qingwen Dong

First Committee Member

Heather Hether

Second Committee Member

Alan Ray

Abstract

Guided by Uses and Gratifications Theory, this study investigated the relationship between Chinese college students' use of social media and their social activism. Data collected from a goup-administered survey of 309 undergraduate students at a large university in eastern China was used to answer four research questions. The results indicated that Chinese college students who used social media for information seeking were likely to participate in individual social activism. Besides, students who used social media for self-status seeking and information seeking were likely to participate in collective social activism. No significant correlation between entertainment motivation and social activism were found. Neither can socializing motivation predict Chinese college students' social activism. In addition, gender had an impact on individual social activism and frequency of social media use could affect both individual and collective social activism.

Pages

62

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