Theoretical Framework

Preface

In order to gain a more systematic understanding of the structural reasons behind the fraud encountered by the elderly in the digital China environment, this page will start from the four core theoretical perspectives discussed in the digital activism course: digital participation inequality, digital power structure, emotional digital culture, and the distribution mechanism of digital information.

Digital Participation Inequality (Pierri)

The reason why digital fraud can frequently succeed among the elderly population lies in the first place in the unequal structure of digital participation. The digital world has never been a domain accessible to everyone on an equal footing. The digital skills, technical resources, social support, and cultural experiences of users determine to what extent they can participate in the activities of the digital space (Pierri). Importantly, older adults often lack systematic digital training, the time to adopt new technologies, and immediate assistance from social networks. As a result, they are in a significantly disadvantaged position in the digital environment. Meanwhile, it means that the older cannot precisely judge the credibility of information, recognize digital symbols, or understand the logic of algorithms. Due to this structural inequality, fraudsters can precisely exploit the vulnerability of the elderly in information processing and technical understanding, making them the primary target of their attacks. All in all, digital participation inequality thus not only explains the superficial phenomenon that the elderly are more prone to being deceived but also reveals their marginalized position in the digital culture, thereby laying a structural theoretical foundation for understanding the fraud mechanism.

Digital Power Structure and Symbolic Reproduction (Fisher)

Digital culture not only replicates the power structures of the real world but also further amplifies these structures within the technological environment, making the digital space a sort of authority reproduction machine (Fisher). In this structure, the authority imitations in the digital fraud are not only simple disguises but rather a precise adoption of the logic of power symbols in the digital culture. Because under the belief of authority institutions, the respect of the official language (documents and news), and the sensitivity of institutional symbols (110 represents the police office), make the elderly enter a passive and compliant state as soon as they see symbols such as “public security case handling system,” “abnormal medical insurance,” “bank security alert,” etc. Fraudsters enhance these symbols through digital means, for example, by imitating official document formats, using legal terms, and generating fake electronic certificates or law enforcement interfaces. They successfully create a digital authority that is difficult for them to question. What is more, fraud is about manipulating the digital power structure, placing the elderly in a position of symbolic governance. The reproduction of digital power explains why seemingly official scams have more control than any technical means.

Emotion-Driven and Digital Communication Mechanism (Mendes & Ringrose)

Emotional flow in the digital environment is crucial for understanding elderly fraud. Digital platforms own the emotional amplification mechanism that users will skip the rational judgment process under the influence of emotional shock to react directly (Mendes and Ringrose). This kind of mechanism is profound in emotion-driven fraud because the fraudsters disguise themselves as children, relatives, or family members, designing scenarios like “they are in trouble because of a traffic accident,” “urgent medical fee,” or “mobile phone was broken,” and emergency messages to attract the elderly’s attention to force them to take action quickly under pressure of family emotional ties and sense of responsibility. This kind of “immediate action” does not lack logic but rather is a paradigm of emotion-driven reaction, which is the same as the desperation of emotion operation in digital activism. The reason why digital fraud thus becomes the reverse effect of the mechanism of emotional transmission is that fraudsters not only need to use complicated technology but also to manipulate emotion precisely. The emotion mechanism not only explains the higher efficiency of emotional fraud but also, on the other hand, reveals how digital context weakens the judgment ability of the elderly.

Digital Information Distribution Structure (Degeling)

Except for the participation in inequality and the logic of emotion, the destruction structure is also the most important theoretical foundation of elderly fraud. The information distribution of platforms is not neutral but rather depends on the algorithm, users’ behaviors, interest preferences, and structural stereotypes, which commonly shape the difference in digital information distribution structure (Degeling). Because the elderly in China mostly browse content about health, keeping a healthy lifestyle, family ties, and family relationships, the platform algorithm will push similar content to them, which will make them trapped in a highly homogeneous information environment. The fraudsters make use of algorithm preferences, representing family, emotion, and healthy anxiety information as an entrance to attract the elderly’s attention precisely. This kind of distribution mechanism not only improves the frequency of elderly people being exposed to fraudulent information but also makes it difficult for them to obtain reproductive information or warning advice, all in all, to form a systematic risk accumulation.

Works Cited

Degeling, Jasmin. “Differential Distributions of the Digital: A Gender Media Studies Perspective on the Theory of Fascism and Current Digital Media Cultures.” Digital Culture & Education 15.2 (2024).

Fisher, Jolene. “Reshaping the battlefield: The international committee of the red cross, video games, and public relations.” Games and Culture 18.8 (2023): 1023-1042.

Mendes, Kaitlynn, Jessica Ringrose, and Jessalynn Keller. “# MeToo and the promise and pitfalls of challenging rape culture through digital feminist activism.” European Journal of Women’s Studies 25.2 (2018): 236-246.

Pierri, Paola. “Who Can Still Afford to do Digital Activism? Exploring the material conditions of online mobilisation.” Weizenbaum Journal of the Digital Society 4.1 (2024).