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Article

How Does New Media Shape the Sense of Belonging and Social Identity? The Social and Psychological Processes of Sustainable Successful Reintegration for Rehabilitated People

1
Department of Media Content, Cheongju University, Cheongju 28503, Republic of Korea
2
Design Discipline, Tongmyong University, Busan 48520, Republic of Korea
3
College of Art, Cheongju University, Cheongju 28503, Republic of Korea
4
Department of Film Media Content, Cheongju University, Cheongju 28503, Republic of Korea
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2024, 16(18), 7958; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16187958
Submission received: 4 August 2024 / Revised: 10 September 2024 / Accepted: 10 September 2024 / Published: 12 September 2024
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Psychology, Economic Choices, and Sustainable Lifestyle)

Abstract

:
Objective: This study aims to explore the role of new media in shaping the social identity and reintegration of rehabilitated individuals (ex-offenders), given the increasing societal attention on their successful reintegration. The objective is to analyze how media dependency and social identity formation contribute to their sustainable reintegration into society. Methods: Conducted in 2022–2023, the study adopted a narrative research paradigm. It employed qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews and participant observation, to investigate the decision-making processes of rehabilitated people under social adaptation pressures. The analysis was framed by media dependency theory and the two-dimensional model of social identity (Evaluation-Relationship). Results: The findings reveal that media dependency significantly enhances the construction of rehabilitated individuals’ social identity, aiding in their successful reintegration. The process of media dependency facilitates emotional support, providing an important outlet for resolving ambivalences in identity during the reintegration process. Moreover, media dependency strengthens the positive impact of new media on identity formation, thereby supporting sustainable reintegration into society. Conclusions: This study underscores the practical importance of media in identity reconstruction for rehabilitated individuals. The findings offer insights for policymakers to design more inclusive media policies that reduce stigmatization. Additionally, the results provide valuable guidance for social workers and counselors in leveraging new media to offer emotional support and identity reconstruction. Future research should examine identity formation in diverse socio-cultural contexts to further understand how new media can support sustainable reintegration.

1. Introduction

The dynamic and ever-changing nature of society poses a significant challenge for long-term offenders who are released into an environment markedly different from the one they experienced before incarceration. This drastic shift complicates their reintegration into society. Given that successful reintegration is key to reducing recidivism, it is crucial to thoroughly understand the factors that facilitate offenders’ re-entry into society, and researchers and policymakers have become increasingly concerned with their re-entry process [1]. With reference to the first impression of group nature, according to the research on stigma, the distrust of a group comes from the value-building process in a society; so, it is important to break down prejudices against a group and try to construct a positive identity [2]. The term “rehabilitated people” emphasizes personal transformation and societal reintegration rather than branding individuals based on their past criminal actions. This shift reflects a societal desire to recognize the potential for positive change and contribution by former offenders. In rehabilitation and correctional research, such terminology is often used to convey the belief that desisting individuals are capable of leading constructive lives. The aim is to reduce negative societal perceptions and highlight their transformation and potential contributions. Since the vast majority of prisoners are released [3], understanding the factors that facilitate the successful re-entry of ex-offenders has become an important goal for the development of theories and policies. Although previous research has focused on some aspects that are important for successful reintegration, including employment, anti-stigma intervention [4], correctional treatment and preparation for reentry, peer mentorship [5], and family support [6,7], there are still many practical difficulties of re-entry for rehabilitated people, such as a lack of material conditions and emotional support, spatial constraints, and structural barriers [8]. In the context of the rapid development of media technology in China, which has become widespread, and the changing consumption concept, the media system has taken on an irreplaceable role in the lives of the rehabilitated. The majority of Chinese towns and cities have now entered a highly mediated stage, where the media is not only an important part of social development, but more importantly, has become an inseparable part of residents’ lives [9]. Because of its powerful interactivity and virtual nature, new media can bring pleasure and satisfaction to rehabilitated people generated by self-presentation and self-performance, and allow them to interact with other rehabilitated people elsewhere at the same time. Especially in the post-COVID-19 era, social media has become a key tool for communication, interaction, education, and entertainment, bridging physical distances and promoting remote interaction [10]. Media dependency theory was developed in 1976 [11], and the term “dependency” refers to the interrelationship between media, society, and individuals. Currently, a dependency relationship is shaped between individuals and a wide range of new media, whose relative power is increasing. Therefore, it is of great interest to apply the concept of media dependency to this study. Rehabilitated people face enormous adaptive pressures when reintegrating into society. The psychological crisis brought on by the environment forces them to engage in higher-level learning to obtain adaptation strategies [12]. Although the pressure suppresses their abilities and autonomy, it does not affect the occurrence of media dependence [13]. This better explains why media exposure is not only an important part of the daily life of rehabilitated people as they move from the familiar, highly institutionalized environment of jails to an ever-changing and unfamiliar society for them, but also a channel they are more likely to use to meet other people.
Previous qualitative and quantitative studies have stressed the importance of social identity for the successful reintegration of rehabilitated people into society. This is closely related to the individual’s motivation to gain a sense of belonging [14,15,16]. Recent research has shown that the psycho-social development of this group is greatly affected by the objective stigma associated with incarceration for rehabilitated people [17]. In order to better access emotional support, they would rather seek group care from friends than from distrustful staff [18]. The importance of social identity also showed positive results in the study of the influence of peers on the reintegration of rehabilitated people [5]. Interaction with peers has been found to have a positive effect on their social identity, including increased confidence and a sense of belonging. Matthews and his colleagues [19] investigated an employment program for returnees to the community and found that the communication and learning among peers who shared the same prison experience not only contributed to a greater sense of self-identity but also promoted self-empowerment, and demonstrated the positive support of peer mentors for the re-entry of rehabilitated ex-offenders. Yu, Y. [20] demonstrated through empirical research that the sense of belonging positively influences the aging process of elderly individuals. González, P. A. et al. [21] argued that the two capabilities most significantly affecting subjective well-being are “social relationships” and “feeling recognized and respected”. Both of these capabilities are closely related to the sense of belonging. However, the above studies have overlooked the fact that, in the media social environment, new media, as the main medium between individuals and society, is an important factor influencing rehabilitated people’s acquisition of social recognition and a sense of belonging. For instance, Mayor, E. [22] found that the sense of belonging is a crucial factor affecting psychological and physical health, and there is a strong correlation between proactive interpersonal interaction motivation and a sense of belonging. Pardede, S. et al. [23] discussed how the factors of “sense of belonging” and “emotional acceptance” respond to the literature on belonging and acceptance and considered that “social self-presentation” is an important motivation for us to present ourselves in social relationships to meet the need for a sense of belonging.
Given the empirical and theoretical support of the important role that social identity plays in the reintegration process for rehabilitated people, it is important that researchers investigate not only how social identity is influenced in the reintegration process, but also what specific factors influence the social identity of rehabilitated people. New media is a form of communication that uses digital technology to provide information and services to users through channels such as computer networks, wireless communication networks, and terminals such as computers, mobile phones, and digital TV sets. Since the 1990s, the Internet has experienced stages of development from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and then to Mobile Internet, with each stage triggering new changes in the social, economic, and cultural dimensions. In China, new media are often mentioned as a way of moral education for those serving prison sentences, but the fact is that prisoners rarely have active access to new media during their sentences. In our interviews with rehabilitated people, we found that the main channel for general prisoners to access new media is to watch TV as a group at a fixed group time, and the programs they watch are mainly “Xinwen Lianbo” (a daily news program produced by China Central Television) and local current affairs news (all are TV news programs of official media). In addition, the prison regularly organizes internal web-based distance educational activities, mainly in the areas of laws and regulations and ideology and politics. When they are released from prison, the rehabilitated people will establish new relationships with a wide range of new media, mainly mobile terminals, as the use of the Internet and social media has become easily accessible. It has been confirmed that the use of new media is closely related to social identity [24], and previous research has shown that not only does the use of new media have an impact on the social identity processes of audiences [25], but also that social identity has a significant impact on users’ media use [26]. In terms of the nature of new media, the online behavior of individuals can broaden and strengthen their real-life social networks, and the use of the Internet and social media can also help individuals maintain and enhance their offline social networks and social connections [24]. Editing a social networking site’s homepage makes people more likely to embrace the self-categorization component of social identity, and those who spend more time on their Facebook homepage tend to have higher self-esteem and a more positive self-perception [27]. Also, self-presentation on social media is positively associated with perceived support from friends, which contributes to a higher self-esteem [28]. The use of new media increases the level of social identity and enhances positive processes such as social comparison and benign envy, which increases the audience’s willingness to self-improve, as recently demonstrated by Latif, K. [29] and others. All of these results have high relevance to this study. Although there are fewer studies that directly show that new media use by rehabilitated people affects their social identity, given the significant correlation between new media and the successful re-integration of rehabilitated people [30], it is assumed in this study that the social identity of rehabilitated people is similarly influenced by their use of new media.
It can be seen that the previous research on rehabilitated people has only presented a binary correlation [17], lacking a comprehensive analysis of the three objects of new media use, social identity, and the successful reintegration of rehabilitated people. This study focuses on understanding the relationship between social recognition and successful reintegration into society under the influence of new media, aiming to clarify the theoretical clarity of how new media promotes the successful reintegration of rehabilitated people. The study proposes the following hypotheses: First, it is hypothesized that reliance on new media can effectively facilitate the identity reconstruction of rehabilitated individuals, thereby supporting their successful reintegration into society. Second, it is hypothesized that media dependency helps alleviate the emotional challenges faced by rehabilitated individuals by providing essential emotional support. Lastly, it is hypothesized that the socio-cultural context significantly influences how new media shapes the identity of rehabilitated individuals, with this effect being particularly complex in multicultural societies. The study primarily yielded the following results: First, we explored the process of social identity construction and expression of rehabilitated people in the new media environment. The study found that new media creates an “imagined community”, reducing the conditions for rehabilitated people to receive emotional support and enhancing the impact on their social recognition. Secondly, the paper analyzed how the process of media dependence greatly strengthens the construction of rehabilitated people’s identity and points out that their identity serves as an effective outlet under conflicting identities, which is a crucial reason for their successful reintegration into society. Meanwhile, we believe that focusing on the acquisition of diverse social identities and considering the influence of different socio-cultural environments are important directions for future research on new media and the successful reintegration of rehabilitated people. This has significant implications for understanding the mechanisms of their reintegration in the context of the new media environment.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Research Methodology

2.1.1. Narrative Study as a Research Paradigm

As a part of qualitative research, narrative research has been defined as aiming to “unravel consequential stories of people’s lives as told by them in their own words and worlds” [31]. Bruner [32] considered narratives as a medium to reflect on the relevance and meaning of events in a spatial–temporal context. The emphasis was on individual subjective interpretation, with the researcher and the narrator as subjects, creating meaning together through the process of narrating and being understood [33]. According to the above-mentioned scholarly interpretations of narrative research, it can be understood as a research method that explores the experiences and meanings of a series of events for individuals, with an emphasis on contextual connections. Under this definition, there is a wide range of resources that can be collected, such as field notes from observations, diaries or oral stories, which can all be part of the information collection process. Due to the nature of data collection, narrative research can be applied to gain a deeper understanding of small samples or to present the lives of certain discriminated minority groups in society.

2.1.2. Methods of Data Collection

In-depth interview method. In this study, the sample was expanded through snowball sampling. During the study in Taiwan, the researcher contacted the social organization “Taipei Flying Life” through the local municipal government and identified four interviewees whose lives were centered on the organization through a contact person of the organization M. During the study period in Liupanshui city, Guizhou Province, China, a key person S was contacted through the local community and four interviewees from the same community were identified through S’s introduction. During the participant observation period, the respondents were followed up a total of 18 times, with each interview lasting approximately one hour. Prior to the interview, the researcher showed and asked the interviewees to sign a consent form to ensure that all interviewees agreed to be audio-recorded. The researcher collated the information as soon as possible after finishing the interview in order to provide as accurate a description as possible. This study follows the steps of qualitative analysis put forward by Puppis, M. [34] in the order of browsing the verbatim transcript, coding, assigning meaning, and content analysis. This study not only provides insight into the real world of the experiences of individual rehabilitated people, but also seeks to shift from a focus on the individual to a focus on the members of the group and to integrate it with the social experiences of the interviewees. This reflects a shift in the unit of analysis from the empirical to the theoretical, and makes it easier to gain new insights into the impact of new media on the social identity of rehabilitated people.
Participant observation method. The data for this study were collected through the researcher’s participation in the internal studies, life gatherings, and daily family life of the interviewees for a cumulative period of 2 months and approximately 90 h of participant observation in the two locations in early 2022. During this time, the researcher participated as a friend in the social gathering activities of the interviewees and observed tutoring sessions and conducted one-on-one interviews in the absence of work and other commitments. Through participant observation across the time span and geographical range, the study focused more on the social context in which the respondents were influenced, so that the data collected could be effectively cascaded into a comprehensive analysis of the perceptions and behaviors of new media on rehabilitated people.

2.2. Literature Review and Materials

Previous studies have demonstrated a strong correlation between the use of new media and the development of social identity [29]. Furthermore, new media has been shown to significantly contribute to the successful reintegration of rehabilitated individuals into society [30]. Social identity plays a critical role in this process, as it is closely tied to the individual’s motivation to achieve a sense of belonging [16]. Therefore, this study aims to explore the specific role of new media in the identity construction and social reintegration of rehabilitated individuals. To investigate this process, we established a database based on interview content. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with several rehabilitated individuals who had successfully reintegrated into society. A three-tier coding method was applied to analyze the data: the initial coding of interview content, followed by the extraction of key themes and patterns, which ultimately led to the construction of a framework for analyzing the reintegration process of rehabilitated individuals.

2.3. Main Theoretical Perspectives

Media dependency theory [35] shares some commonalities with the uses and gratifications model in that they both focus on the audience side and pay more attention to the individual’s motivational performance. In contrast to the “uses and gratifications theory”, the dependency model of media effects provides a more comprehensive examination of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of the rehabilitated people, revealing not only the selective media access of the audience, but also, and more importantly, the contingency media access model. Therefore, the two dependency models have different effects. The dependency model of media effects emphasizes the relationship between the media system and the social system, and the theory is based on the idea that the media is a key pivot in regulating the social behavior of individuals and groups.
Ball-Rokeach, S. et al. [11] proposed a dependency model of mass-media effects, in which the effect of specific content on the audience is taken as the object of study, and the relationships between the various subsystems are analyzed under the whole process of media exposure, as well as the cumulative results of several conditions of the system. Rehabilitated groups are more dependent on the mass media than others. In a context of rapid social change, they need to be aware of and adapt to what is happening in their society, and therefore have different types of strong media dependency effects in their psychology and behavior. At the same time, the dependency effect of media system works well in the explanation of the macro social system and group, for example, the demand for social stability in social governance relies on the media system that possesses information resources to purposefully achieve the construction of the identity of rehabilitated people (see Figure 1).
The social identity theory was first proposed by Tajfel. She defined social identity as “an individual’s knowledge of belonging to certain social groups, together with some emotional and valuational significance of that group membership” [36]. It can be seen that identifying with a group is a completely different psychological state than being assigned to a social category. Social identity aims to address the question of “who we are” from the angle of “my relationship to a group” and “my evaluation of the group”. Social identity of rehabilitated people refers to the psychological process of regaining group membership during the reintegration process. The successful reintegration of a rehabilitated person is to return to family and friends, and in terms of the closeness of the individual to the group, to the primary and secondary groups, to become a member of them and to regain membership in the group to which he or she belongs. Social identity theory suggests that the ongoing description of each individual’s self is largely influenced by the traits of the group to which he or she belongs. The social identity process of rehabilitated individuals after release from prison is a dynamic process, and their social identity is a key part of their self-description and personal perception. Currently, the application of social identity theory (SIT) focuses on examining its explanatory power in agent-based models (ABMs). ABM is a modeling method used to simulate human behavior, representing human actions in social contexts to simulate complex social systems [37]. Scholz, G. et al. [38] found that most studies focus on aspects such as the emergence of group norms and behavioral differences, in-group preference or out-group derogation, and the possibility of multiple social identities. Only a few studies have been conducted based on the strict motivation of social identity theory, such as the need for positive self-cognition. To address this issue, this study took the inherent two-dimensionality (evaluation-relationship) of the social identity of rehabilitated people as the basic framework of analysis [39], providing a scientific theoretical perspective to accurately understand their motivations and in-depth reasons for their successful reintegration into society (see Figure 2).

2.4. Descriptions of the Interviewees

M, male, aged 46 years, from Keelung, Taiwan, has been out of prison for 10 years. His education level is high school. From the age of 16 years, when he became addicted to drugs, to the age of 36 years, when he was last released from prison, he was repeatedly imprisoned 16 times in 20 years for drug taking and drug trafficking, with the longest prison term being 3 years and 7 months. He was awarded the title of “Anti-drug project contributor” in Taiwan. His family members are his mother and two children, both of whom are working.
T, male, aged 57 years, from Taipei, Taiwan, has been out of prison for 20 years. He was sentenced to one year in prison for burglary due to hallucinations caused by drug addiction, and has a 16-year history of drug abuse since he was introduced to drugs at the age of 19 years. He is currently engaged in drug rehabilitation education in prison and has been awarded the title of “Anti-drug project contributor” in Taiwan.
Z, male, aged 28 years, from Hsinchu, Taiwan, has been out of prison for 5 years. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison for causing serious injuries in a fight. He is currently working in the sale of motor vehicles and is unmarried.
X, male, aged 13 years, from Hsinchu, Taiwan, has been out of prison for 1 year. He was sentenced to 1 year in prison for theft. He is currently unemployed and unmarried.
S, male, aged 53 years, from Liupanshui, Guizhou, China, has been out of prison for 15 years. His sentence was reduced to 20 years after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for fighting and causing a death. He is currently engaged in breeding ornamental pigeons; he is married and his family members are his wife and son.
L, male, aged 50 years, from Liupanshui, Guizhou, China, has been out of prison for 15 years. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison for taking part in a fight. He is currently working as a calligraphy teacher; he is married and his family members are his wife and son.
C, male, aged 28 years, from Liupanshui, Guizhou, China, has been out of prison for 1 year. He was sentenced to 1 year and 4 months in prison for theft. He is currently unemployed and unmarried.
K, male, aged 25 years, from Liupanshui, Guizhou, China, has been out of prison for 1 year. He was sentenced to 1 year in prison for theft. He is currently unemployed and unmarried.

3. Results

3.1. The Dynamic Media Dependency Process: The Media Systems of the Rehabilitated People

The mass media dependency process argues that different societies determine different relationships between social systems, media systems, and audience feedback, and that these differences also exert various effects on the construction of rehabilitated people’s identities. When rehabilitated people come out of a relatively closed prison environment and re-enter society, they may find it difficult to adapt fully to it. As an important channel of information for rehabilitated people to survive and develop, media exposure allows them to become more quickly aware and informed of what is happening in society; thus, media dependency is built. During the process of media exposure and media dependency, many of the mental demands of the rehabilitated are expressed via media exposure. When the researcher asked, “What do you think you need most after you get out of prison?”, S responded, “Of course we want to be cared”, while M said, “I need understanding and approval, I’m not allowed to do this (break the law), we’re not ghosts”. When they were released from prison and re-entered their former relationships, they always received a variety of “discrimination” and “humiliation” from others and were unable to receive mental support in real social relationships. When the researcher asked, “Do you feel that using new media can satisfy these demands?”, the respondents agreed that they could at least interact with others without burden, such as “online dating is less burdensome”, “everyone is same and equal online”, and “no one can teach me from above”. The new media has become the best option for the rehabilitated to express themselves freely, due to its rich content, anonymous platform feature, and especially the replacement of face-to-face social interaction by online communication.

3.1.1. Selective Exposure: The Active Seeker

The elimination of ex-offenders’ crime records in previous studies is only a prerequisite for securing normal citizenship for them. From the perspective of social identity, the failure of the rehabilitated to return to society is often reflected in a blurring of identity labels, such as “who I am” and “what group I belong to”, and a desperate need to secure a more appropriate and correct place in society. In the process of media dependency, more of them tend to read stories and evaluations that are relevant to them to find answers to the question “who am I?”. The more relevant the information, the more attention and focus the rehabilitated receive, and the more likely they are to take the information to another step or further processing and to gain feedback or behavioral motivation from the results. During the study, all respondents were asked the same question, “What information have you searched for via the Internet”, and were required to provide 8–10 items or keywords. A statistical comparison of the searched content revealed that the tags “successful business start-ups for ex-offenders”, “support policies for ex-offenders”, “previous convictions of offenders”, and “ex-offenders, controversies” were the ones that rehabilitated people were most willing to actively search for and pay attention to (see Figure 3).

3.1.2. Accidental Exposure: The Passive Observer

In the course of their exposure to the media, a large part of the information that the rehabilitated obtain about themselves comes from accidental exposure. Psychological buffers play an important role for the rehabilitated who belong to a vulnerable group. The anonymity of the new media provides a condition in which they can quickly integrate into society. Exposure to content that is relevant to them can easily activate media dependency, whether it brings joy or disgust, leading to active thinking and a bias towards certain behavior. Surprisingly, the same content in an accidental exposure situation is more likely to elicit emotions for them than in selective exposure, and they argue that selective media exposure does not exclude purposeful messaging, but there is no difference between the two from the perspective of the communicator. The symbols relevant to groups such as “ex-prisoners” and “disadvantaged groups” in their exposure to media are the ones that intrigue them most.

3.1.3. Accumulation of Media Effects: The Senseless Recipient

The media effect is not a one-way result of the dependency model from the beginning to the end, but a dynamic process of constant accumulation between subsystems and feedback from the audience [11]. When organizing the text of the conversation, we found that S had different answers on the same question at two times during media exposure, but he did not notice the change himself. Early in the study, when asked about the “most important thing in life”, S said that “The most important thing is that my fellows and I are alive”. But soon after, S knew a rehabilitated friend on social media whose child went to college, and this friend became the “father of an educated child” in their social circle. From then on, S’s self-perception gradually shifted to the responsibilities that a “mature adult” is supposed to take. A month later, in response to the same question, S changed his personal-centered perception and connected social responsibility to himself. He said that “coming back [to society] starts with the most basic aspects of being a human being, to be looked up to”, “there is only one thing in the future, to support him to go to college”. The shift in thinking from a self-oriented mode to family-oriented mode does not occur suddenly. Their trust in new media as a channel increases when they obtain information through new media at a certain time that is applicable at the moment or in line with their values, and it can be concluded that the media effects from new media use are cumulative and also not easily perceivable.
A similar performance can be found in M. M is an active anti-drug advocate through new media, and he is also keen to use the Internet to search for himself and show others news stories about his anti-drug advocacy, believing that only through new media others can see him as a caring and responsible “mature adult”. Gradually, through positive feedback from media platforms, this image becomes more and more real to M. “The title as a successful anti-drug activist is what keeps me serving the industry”, M said directly (see Figure 4).

3.2. Identity Construction under Media Dependency: The Cognition, Emotion, and Behavior of the Rehabilitated People

3.2.1. Painful Memories: The Ambivalent Identity of the “Prisoner”

Cameron J E [40] argued that there are four types of social identity in two dimensions, and that the identity of rehabilitated people after release from prison is a dynamic process with two dimensions inherent to it. In other words, the rehabilitated group relies on the media to obtain value judgments on two dimensions, “my relationship to a group” and “my evaluation of a group”, and thus to confirm whether they are in a “marginal” or “integrated” state. The two-dimensional model of social identity holds that only when one identifies and perceives oneself as belonging to a group can one demonstrate a positive state of integration. S served 20 years in prison, during which he experienced a process of resistance, acceptance, and adaptation and completed his integration into the prisoner community. Unlike a normal open society, a highly closed prison has a separate prison management system and media system, where prisoners are required to eat, sleep, study, and relax at regular intervals. The experience of serving a prison sentence can be described as a painful memory for all interviewees. A contradictory social identity is represented by the fact that the prisoner is forcibly placed in a prison environment for committing a crime, and the term “prisoner” is a negative label in their perception. Going to jail as a prisoner is punishment, and from the bottom of their hearts, they are only forced to maintain the status quo, like S said, “The mark ‘prisoner’ is printed on your uniform” and “Going to jail is a disgrace to the whole village” (see Figure 5).

3.2.2. Opportunities for Positive Identification: Rehabilitated People under New Media

From the conversations with the interviewees, we learned that the interviewees themselves, as well as those normal prisoners they knew, mainly obtain their information from watching television programs in groups, borrowing assigned books, and chatting with prison guards and other cellmates. Although they also show a strong media dependency while serving their sentences, the limited time they spent using the media, the singular content they were exposed to, and the restraints on their movement mean that the media plays only a limited role in their cognitive and emotional well-being. In contrast, after their release from prison, the society with a high media presence facilitates the rehabilitated people’s real life and provides an opportunity for them to rebuild a positive social identity.
After his release from prison, M was introduced to a social organization called “Taipei Flying Life”, and M always emphasizes that his referral to it was a turning point in his life. At this time, M was in close contact with the new media, and it was at this stage that the issue of belonging to a group became clear to him. With the combined effect of the social system and media system, “Taipei Flying Life” has become a comprehensive rehabilitation organization that includes learning, rehabilitation, and employment for rehabilitated people, and the organization’s companionship and guidance are important for the mental health of rehabilitated people [41]. The members here have since named themselves “rehabilitated”. The media and the organization have together created a hopeful and positive identity for the group, and the clear group identity and positive group positioning of the rehabilitated people have further guided the process of self-categorization, which has led to the active acceptance and integration of M into the group in the use of new media and to a positive social identity. The “Flying Life” group has set up an official media section on the YouTube platform and has published a large number of online videos. The “Little Man, Big Heroes” series is a follow-up documentary of the organization, showing the real emotions and behavior of the rehabilitated population. For the past two years, the organization has regularly published its main operations in the form of a “quarterly video report”, with the aim of providing an in-depth introduction to its rehabilitated people. It was found that the intensity and breadth of the media effect of these processes are unexpected, and that they are not limited to regional expressions, but are based on selective media dependency. T and X said that, although they did not have any real-life encounters with the “Flying Life”, they both subscribed to the YouTube channel, mainly to check the comments below the videos in order to obtain a better understanding of other people’s views on the rehabilitated population. They felt that the commenters were influenced by the video and that their comments were more credible.

3.2.3. The Two-Dimensional Construction of Rehabilitated People’s Identity

The self-categorization of the rehabilitated accomplishes two things at once [42]: Firstly, they place themselves in the rehabilitated group or this group consciousness is placed in their minds. Secondly, the process of self-categorization leads to behaviors that are consistent with this group consciousness. The process of presenting themselves and interacting with others through new media reinforced the “rehabilitated” identity of M and others, which was an outlet for ambivalent identities compared to their previous experiences as prisoners and the reality of being released from prison. The rehabilitated people perceive themselves as being very similar to their “peers” in the group, as having “criminal memories” and as being positive and eager to change. At the same time, the behavior of rehabilitated people has changed dramatically as a result of self-categorization. The most basic rules of behavior for the rehabilitated community were “not to bother others”, “to help others”, and “responsibility”. The feedback that the rehabilitated people receive through the new media is such that they behave in accordance with this expectation, based on group settings and popular perceptions, and it can be argued that the media has created a core culture of the rehabilitated community, namely “help themselves by helping others”. Rather surprisingly, this cultural influence is often a two-way street for both the communication subject and the audience. The state of identification and positive integration of rehabilitated people reconstructs their perceptions, emotions, and behaviors. For example, T sees “memories of serving a criminal sentence” as an “unexpected gift” and his negative experiences as a ‘previous training” for his current job. Meanwhile, he is proud to be part of the rehabilitated community, which he believes is rarely judged negatively. It can be seen that the new media plays a key role as an intermediary in the dynamic construction of rehabilitated people’s identity.
In the interview, S had contradictory self-descriptions of being “responsible”. On the one hand, S saw himself as responsible as a ‘rehabilitated’ “person, but on the other hand, he was not responsible enough as a “family supporter” because he had missed most of the time with his children and had not fulfilled his responsibilities. In fact, the formation of a rehabilitated person’s identity circumvents the drift between the “prisoner” and the “social man”, but the sense of disparity that arises from comparison with others is always present. The rehabilitated person’s identity provides them with a gentle diversion, but in reality it is only an outlet for conflicting identities.

3.2.4. The Development and Pluralism of the Rehabilitated Identity

Individuals will focus on a certain area of excellence to satisfy their self-esteem demands; so, the label of self-motivation will make an individual stand out among others within a group on the relevant dimension of group comparison [43]. T volunteered to mention the honor he had obtained as an “Anti-drug project contributor”, “now I’ve raised my status to a higher level”, and with the social and official recognition of the individual, T felt that his “status” has also been raised. The fact that both M and T are counselors for rehabilitated people and are rehabilitated themselves can be explained by the fact that they advocate against drug addiction and achieve a higher performance to surpass others through media dependency, making an active distinction between themselves and other counterparts who are still “lingering around the blind spot”. In this way, T obtained his current “status”, a process of development and self-improvement following the positive identification of the rehabilitated. Just as people cannot have a single group label during a certain period, so do rehabilitated people. As they acquire a sense of belonging, their perceptions, emotions, and behaviors change and adapt as a result of the cumulative effects of media exposure, and they further demand that they also have group labels such as “family supporter”, “a grateful person”, “artist”, and so on so as to acquire other forms of group identity.
The analysis shows that, in their positive social identity construction, the rehabilitated are not satisfied with acquiring a single role, but rather, they try to construct it toward the same direction from several areas. T chose to make efforts to make up for his family ties, while C continued his high school studies to obtain a high school diploma. Their behaviors can be analyzed as follows: A healthy family relationship and high school diploma can be seen as symbols of the social man, and the motivations of T and C to make such “compensations” arise from the sense of the difference between the identity of ex-offender and the social man. Under the influence of the mainstream social man, they tried to become close to the group of the social man. The conflicting identities of the social man and offender are not long-lasting, and the integration of rehabilitated persons into the “rehabilitated” group requires continued work in multiple domains to refine the new identity construction, eventually leading to relatively smooth and positive outcomes. This aligns with findings from the research on the importance of the sense of belonging and identity for health and well-being, which argues that a certain amount of social support is needed in transitional identities to develop other social identities and eventually give up them [44].

4. Discussion

4.1. Overview

This study argues that media dependence significantly improves the process of identity construction for the rehabilitated, and that their rehabilitated identity, as an effective outlet among ambivalent identities, is a key factor in their sustainable successful reentry into society. Through narrative research, we revealed the process of social identity construction and expression for rehabilitated people and simulated a social psychological process of sustainable successful reintegration for rehabilitated people under social adaptation pressure (see Figure 6). We found that the primary motivation for successful reintegration is the establishment of a new identity and the acquisition of a sense of belonging. This decision model draws on the rational recommendations of [45], who argue that the model needs to reflect the complexity of individual decision making within socio-ecological systems. They emphasize the importance of the model’s fit with its context, rather than simply adopting the rational optimizer assumption, and advocate for a focus on model appropriateness to establish critical and reflective practices, thereby improving the model’s ability to reflect real decision-making processes.
Based on the above model, what makes the media, rather than other factors, have a greater impact on rehabilitated people’s identity? There are at least two reasons that can be derived from this study. Firstly, media control the rare and precious information resources as their main impetus to exert effects [46], and on this basis, the attributes of a group are constantly defined (deliberately positively or negatively propagated) due to the need for the expression of the media system to be supported by other social systems [43]. In their desperation to find outlets for contradicting identities, the rehabilitated people further blur the contrasting dimensions of a group’s attributes throughout the self-categorization process [47]. Jenkins, R. [48] argues that the process of identification is the process of finding similarities and dissimilarities with others. In other words, aside from the factor of their sharing prison experience, it is easier for the rehabilitated to accept the difference among individual rehabilitated people, thus strengthening their sense of belonging to the group. The process can be compared to what Anderson, B. [49] calls an “imagined community”. The new media as a primary source of information makes rehabilitated people easily confuse propaganda and representations of reality, which they often perceive as both reality [50]. Secondly, while utilizing new media, the rehabilitated people tend to accept the information that they want to know [51] and may make bold decisions from the wealth of information accessible, a process that builds up and repeats itself endlessly. Therefore, due to the strong emotional demand for the identity of rehabilitated people and the susceptibility of the audience to the new media, compared to the real environment, there are restrictions such as space and real names, and the new media dependency reduces the circumstances in which the rehabilitated might obtain emotional support. All of these factors make it possible for the new media to successfully support the effective re-entry into society of the rehabilitated.

4.2. Conclusions and Political Recommendations

Based on this study, new media plays a crucial role in shaping the identity of rehabilitated individuals. By controlling information resources, media influences group attributes and self-categorization, making it easier for these individuals to blur the lines between reality and propaganda, thus fostering a sense of belonging. As a result, new media not only shapes perceptions but also meets emotional needs, facilitating social reintegration. In light of this, the following political recommendations are proposed: Governments should strengthen media regulation to ensure content is objective and fair, promote positive narratives by sharing success stories of reintegrated individuals, and establish community support networks offering psychological counseling and employment opportunities. Moreover, collaboration between the judicial, media, and social services sectors is essential to develop policies that provide comprehensive support in terms of information, emotional well-being, and material needs, ensuring successful social reintegration.

4.3. Future Research Potential

The meso-analytical framework of media system dependency theory believes that media systems differ according to their stages of development and pluralism as well as their capacities to meet the demand of social system and their audiences. The more a medium possesses such qualities, the more central it becomes to a society and the more dependent its users will be on it [52]. During the interviews in this study, it was discovered that the effect of media dependency varies partly caused by different locations of individual cases. It is hoped that a more thorough comparison of these effects will be made in the future when the sample of cases is enriched.
Lutz S [53,54] argue that “cyber-ostracism” and “cyber-rejection” from media affect the users’ sense of belonging and self-esteem, among other things. In order to strike a balance between identity in reality and in their expectations, they may continue to search for the categorized attributes that are advantageous to them [55]. When ex-offenders fail to escape their negative low-status group identity, they will adopt strategies to enhance their positive identity within the group, in which both social creation and social competition are included, making channels for acquiring positive identity crucial. In identity construction, the new media plays a critical role as an intermediary. With new media, the paths to obtain positive identity are diverse, and ex-offenders are also provided access to make use of them. Except for the identity as a rehabilitated person, how other identities, like a family supporter or grateful person, are built and how the ex-offenders achieve positive integration should not be neglected in future studies about the impact of media effects on the successful re-entry into society.
However, there are some limitations to using narrative research methods to explore the construction and expression of social identity for rehabilitated people under new media. Firstly, narrative research heavily relies on participants’ personal statements, which may be affected by memory bias, emotional states, and personal interpretations, thus impacting the objectivity and reliability of the data. Secondly, the small sample size in this study limits the generalizability of the results to larger populations. Additionally, narrative data analysis is complex and requires a high degree of interpretation, which may lead to researcher bias or subjective judgment affecting the results. Therefore, to understand the impact of new media use on social identity, future research will need more quantitative studies for validation.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, L.X. and F.C.; methodology, L.X.; software, J.M.; validation, J.M. and J.Y.; investigation, Z.L.; resources, Z.L.; data curation, J.Y.; writing—original draft preparation, L.X.; writing—review and editing, L.X.; visualization, L.X.; supervision, F.C.; project administration, F.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Our study does not require further approval from the ethics committee, as it does not involve animal or human clinical trials, nor is it unethical. In accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki, all participants provided informed consent prior to their involvement in the research. The anonymity and confidentiality of the participants are ensured, and participation was entirely voluntary.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

The data presented in this study are available upon request from the corresponding author due to the interviewees’ request for the conversation content to be kept private.

Acknowledgments

We thank all the ex-offenders who participated in the interviews for their pro bono assistance with data from earlier versions of this manuscript. We would like to thank Jie Xiao for her help with the submission and her attentiveness to support us to persist with this manuscript. We would like to thank Fei Liu for his encouragement during this study, which enabled us to find the direction of our research; his extensive experience has been a great help to us.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Figure 1. Model of rehabilitated media dependency adapted from Ball-Rokeach, S. et al. (1990) [11].
Figure 1. Model of rehabilitated media dependency adapted from Ball-Rokeach, S. et al. (1990) [11].
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Figure 2. Two–dimensionality (evaluation–relationship) of the social identity of rehabilitated people adapted from Mattingly, B. A. et al. (2014) [39]. “+” indicates a positive attitude, and “-” indicates a negative attitude.
Figure 2. Two–dimensionality (evaluation–relationship) of the social identity of rehabilitated people adapted from Mattingly, B. A. et al. (2014) [39]. “+” indicates a positive attitude, and “-” indicates a negative attitude.
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Figure 3. Frequency of online search terms by rehabilitated people.
Figure 3. Frequency of online search terms by rehabilitated people.
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Figure 4. S and M underwent changes regarding identity expectations.
Figure 4. S and M underwent changes regarding identity expectations.
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Figure 5. The development process of S’s “prisoner” identity.
Figure 5. The development process of S’s “prisoner” identity.
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Figure 6. A social psychological processes of sustainable successful reintegration for rehabilitated people.
Figure 6. A social psychological processes of sustainable successful reintegration for rehabilitated people.
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Xiao, L.; Chu, F.; Mao, J.; Yang, J.; Liu, Z. How Does New Media Shape the Sense of Belonging and Social Identity? The Social and Psychological Processes of Sustainable Successful Reintegration for Rehabilitated People. Sustainability 2024, 16, 7958. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16187958

AMA Style

Xiao L, Chu F, Mao J, Yang J, Liu Z. How Does New Media Shape the Sense of Belonging and Social Identity? The Social and Psychological Processes of Sustainable Successful Reintegration for Rehabilitated People. Sustainability. 2024; 16(18):7958. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16187958

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xiao, Liyao, Fufeng Chu, Jingjing Mao, Jiaxin Yang, and Ziyu Liu. 2024. "How Does New Media Shape the Sense of Belonging and Social Identity? The Social and Psychological Processes of Sustainable Successful Reintegration for Rehabilitated People" Sustainability 16, no. 18: 7958. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16187958

APA Style

Xiao, L., Chu, F., Mao, J., Yang, J., & Liu, Z. (2024). How Does New Media Shape the Sense of Belonging and Social Identity? The Social and Psychological Processes of Sustainable Successful Reintegration for Rehabilitated People. Sustainability, 16(18), 7958. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16187958

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