The Influence of Social Media on Canadian Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions of China

• In Event: Global Perspectives on Education and Culture: Digital Strategies, Social Media, and Tianxia in Shaping Future Citizens

Proposal

Context
Covid-19 changed the world. The pandemic affected not only people’s health, jobs, and lifestyles but also their perceptions of China and Chinese people. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, discrimination and xenophobia against Chinese and other Asian individuals (e.g., verbal abuse, physical assault, and media misrepresentation) have been widely reported across the world (Ballatyne & Giarrusso, 2023; Ma & Zhan, 2022). During the pandemic, Canadians relied on various media sources for updates from the government and shared information with each other. Media, as a major social institution, plays an important role in shaping people’s ways of thinking about others, particularly younger generations like university students. Not all media reports are evidence-based. Some media discourses biasedly and irresponsibly spread misleading news, create social panic, and reinforce hate speech against Chinese people. What I felt, heard, and experienced during the pandemic, along with what I learned from this student, motivated me to conduct an internally funded research project on anti-Asian racism during the pandemic. This paper aims to address the following two research questions:
• How do Canadian university students perceive Sinophobic discourse on social media, and how does social media influence their perceptions of China and Chinese people?
• Can taking my courses on multiculturalism and social justice issues help change students’ biased perceptions of others? Specifically, to what extent are they willing to engage in a “difficult” dialogue about China?

Significance
As a critical scholar, I feel a strong sense of social responsibility to combat Sinophobia during the pandemic. I have taken action through my teaching at a predominantly white university, striving to raise my students' consciousness as critical thinkers about other countries, particularly in the context of the pandemic. At this conference, I will share my research findings and reflections on:
1. The different forms of racialized habitus that Canadian university students displayed when engaging in difficult dialogues about China;
2. The role social media plays in a digital society and how it affects younger generations’ understanding of China; and
3. What education can and cannot do to address this issue.

Theoretical Framework and Method
I conduct this project from a Bourdieusian perspective, particularly using the concept of “racialized habitus” (Author, 2024). "The habitus, a product of history, produces individual and collective practices—more history—in accordance with the schemes generated by history" (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 54). Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, I conceptualize how Sinophobic discourses and attitudes toward China and Chinese people have been reproduced from historical to contemporary societies through the functioning of social agents' racialized habitus. By problematizing the symbolic violence of dominant media discourses in constructing unequal social identities and social relations, I aim to identify and theorize the different characteristics of Canadian university students' racialized habitus, as exemplified during difficult dialogues about China and Chinese people.
Grounded theory was used as the main research methodology (Charmaz, 2014). This exploratory qualitative methodology focuses on developing a theory of process grounded in rich empirical data collected from participants who have experienced the process under study. It is a bottom-up approach that foregrounds the voices and experiences of participants. The study was conducted between 2021 and 2023 at a predominantly white Canadian university using an online format. The sample consists of 30 undergraduate students, the majority of whom are white, with a few racialized minorities. First, participants were asked to identify media sources (e.g., news, social media posts, etc.) that affected their perceptions of China and Chinese people during the pandemic. These media sources were primarily used to initiate a dialogue to further explore how they perceived Sinophobic discourses. Second, after reviewing the specific media discourses they identified, I scheduled 30- to 50-minute online individual interviews (via Microsoft Teams or Zoom) to explore their responses in depth. Participants were also given the option to email me their answers to the interview questions if they preferred not to participate in an online interview. The interviews were immediately transcribed and analyzed using initial coding, focused coding, axial coding, the comparative method, and memo-writing, as informed by the grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2014). To ensure validation and credibility, I used triangulation, collected rich data, provided thick descriptions, and conducted member checks (Charmaz, 2014).

Findings
I will share four main research findings at the conference:
1. Most white students displayed varying levels of ignorance, embarrassment, contradiction, and denial of Sinophobic attitudes during the pandemic;
2. Many highlighted the transnational influence of the United States on Canada, particularly the impact of political leaders on their beliefs about China;
3. Participants held biased understandings of both the people of China and China as a country;
4. Most students had taken only one course on multiculturalism or social justice issues throughout their entire K-postsecondary education, as they grew up in a predominantly white, sheltered environment. For them, my course was an “eye-opener.”
I will provide specific details for each of these key findings during my presentation. Additionally, I will share my experiences teaching against anti-Chinese racism during and after the pandemic and engaging in “difficult” dialogues with my participants. I will further theorize a specific form of racialized habitus—“the contradiction”—as displayed by my participants, including: 1) acknowledgment versus denial or self-justification; 2) critical consciousness versus superficial understanding; and 3) willingness to fight against racism versus situational dependence. Finally, I will critically reflect on the broader question: what can education do, and what are its limitations in addressing these issues in a digital society?

Author

• Dan Cui, Brock University