Ideal and Reality of Weibo as the “Public Sphere” of Gender Issues: Computer-Assisted Content Analysis Based on the Topic “Masculinity”

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Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5) : 106-124.

Ideal and Reality of Weibo as the “Public Sphere” of Gender Issues: Computer-Assisted Content Analysis Based on the Topic “Masculinity”

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Abstract

In recent years, the crisis of masculinity has become a controversial gender issue between the mainstream and the youth subculture. This article takes Computer-assisted Content Analysis as the research method and uses three tools to analyze the topic #what is today’s masculinity# on Weibo, including the social network analysis, the context analysis based on term, and the sentiment analysis. We found that the public participation in the topic takes the key opinion leaders as the communication hub, which is characterized by free thinking and exchange and strong cohesion. In terms of theme orientation, the topic presents an open discussion between male supremacy and gender equality. In the sentiment analysis, the topic presents a rational discussion atmosphere in each stage of its development, but the netizens’ signifcant recognition of negative emotional comments can be seen from the whole. Therefore, although Weibo provides a relatively equal, extensive and open communication space for the gender issues, it is still far from forming an ideal“public sphere”of it.

Key words

masculinity / Weibo / public sphere / gender consciousness / computer-assisted content analysis

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. Ideal and Reality of Weibo as the “Public Sphere” of Gender Issues: Computer-Assisted Content Analysis Based on the Topic “Masculinity”. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2021, 43(5): 106-124

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