Status Competition in the Digital Era: Degree Seeking, Public Credentialism, and Information Counseling in Two Taiwanese Social Media Sites

Abstract

Students with college degrees are likely to obtain satisfactory employment, but few studies examine how students assess the value of degrees after universal higher education. Based on content analyses of 1,269 posts on a Dcard undergrad forum and 614 posts on a PTT senior high forum, which are the two most influential local social media sites in Taiwan, I investigate how students assess the value of degrees and how online platforms shape dominant narratives on choosing a degree. I argue that the value of a degree is congruently defined by the messages surrounding teenagers, which reassign values to degrees in the existing status hierarchy. I call this phenomenon ‘public credentialism,’ a collective status-building process through which individuals assign value to degrees through online narratives, social closure, and online argument styles. This study sheds light on the meaning-making process and advances the discussion on relative value in credential theory.