Listening Habits as a Mirror: Generation Z’s Life Attitudes and Identity Construction

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jnme.202610402

Author(s)

Chingwan Chan

Affiliation(s)

Department of Sociology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Abstract

Under the dual confinement of digital platform capitalism and algorithmic logic, mobile music consumption has transcended the boundaries of pure aesthetic entertainment, evolving into a core battlefield for micro-politics and daily practices among contemporary youth. Focusing on Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012), the "digital natives," this study investigates how everyday listening habits-including listening duration, genre preferences, and playlist curation-serve as an "auditory mirror" that reflects life attitudes and identity construction in an accelerated society. Utilizing a mixed-methods design combining online questionnaires (N = 284) and semi-structured interviews (N = 12), this paper applies classical sociological concepts such as Bourdieu's distinction, Goffman's dramaturgical analysis, and digital discipline. The findings reveal that Gen Z's auditory practices exhibit intense emotional routinization and micro-tribalization. On one hand, youth actively employ noise-canceling headphones and personalized playlists to construct micro-emotional sanctuaries as "tactics" to resist alienation and daily anxiety. On the other hand, their aesthetic tastes and identity construction are deeply co-domesticated and enclosed by the hyper-personalized algorithmic landscape of streaming platforms. This study provides crucial empirical evidence for digital youth culture and the sociology of everyday life.

Keywords

Generation Z; Listening Habits; Identity Construction; Algorithmic Discipline; Micro-Sociology; Cultural Capital

References

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