Reshaping the"Relational"Society:Strong and Weak Ties in the Digital Age and Their Influence
In the digital age,Granovetter's"strength of weak ties"thesis needs revisiting and up-dating.By establishing the connectivity of relationship and situating them in the context of digital tech-nological development,this paper introduces the concept of"relational influence"to address the com-prehensiveness and contemporaneity lacking in traditional research.The study shows that in the digital age,"relational influence"manifests itself primarily as supportive,restrictive,auxiliary and destruc-tive.These manifestations result from changes in relational characteristics such as the derivation of rela-tional formation objects,the variation of relational cohesion,the weakening of relational identity func-tions,and the expansion of relational scope of influence.The emergence of these manifestations and their sources results from reshaping of"relational"society,in which digital technology plays a mediat-ing role.This mediation leads to the environmental transformation of"the world as a place"and the"in-tertwining of the virtual and the real",as well as the empowerment and liberation of individuals,ulti-mately fostering the generation of individual relationships and the discovery of society in its connections.
digital agestrong and weak tiesrelational influence"relational"society