Mediatized Existence and the Reconstruction of Subculture: The Practical Shift of China’s Youth Internet Subculture in the Digital Era

This article explores the practical shift of China’s youth internet subculture in the digital era, aiming to advance the localization and mediatization of subculture theory and develop a context-specific theoretical framework. It reveals that digital technologies reshape subcultural expression through technological affordance, algorithmic recommendations amplify subcultural dissemination, and platform rules subtly regulate content production. Subcultures have evolved from “self-entertainment and self-expression” to “transcendence and integration,” with youth practices shifting from “resistance” to “participation,” and discursive strategies blending subcultural symbols with dominant ideologies. Using a multidimensional approach – combining theoretical analysis, case studies, policy interpretation, and technological examination – the study investigates how digital technologies, political regulation, and youth cultural practices interact to reconstruct subcultures. The article’s innovations include: moving beyond the traditional “resistance-incorporation” paradigm to propose a localized framework integrating “soft resistance” and “active participation”; analyzing the shift from “subculture” to “new dominant culture” through the dual lens of technological affordance and cultural policy; and examining digital technologies’ role in subcultural formation, dissemination, and development from a cultural studies perspective, offering fresh insights for localized subculture theory. The findings highlight a mediatized existence for China’s youth internet subculture, driven by technology, politics, and youth agency. Subcultures now engage in complex interactions with dominant culture, transcending marginality. This reconstruction enriches online culture, facilitates the transition to a “new dominant culture,” and provides youth with new spaces for cultural identity and value expression.

Mediatized existence, subculture reconstruction, youth Internet subculture, the digital era, technological affordance, new dominant culture, algorithmic recommendations, platform rules, localized theory, subjective practices