Mediated Peer Interactions Among Rural Children in China: A Field Study From the Perspective of the New Sociology of Childhood

Amid the profound transformations of rural society, traditional authorities and value systems are undergoing significant disruption. Mediated peer interactions among children are no longer merely a form of entertainment, but have become crucial arenas where they exercise agency and participate in shaping these changes. Grounded in the theoretical framework of the new sociology of childhood, this study presents an ethnographic investigation of HL Village. The findings reveal that the official evaluative system, represented by the school, has lost its effectiveness within the peer world. As active social agents, children reconstruct interactional spaces, reinvent social rules, and generate internal hierarchies through intensive mediated peer communication. In doing so, they establish an alternative value system centered on “media capital.” This dynamic creates a fundamental tension between the disciplinary logic of the adult world and the reconstructive logic of children’s peer culture. Based on these findings, the study argues that the agency children exhibit in mediated peer interactions is deeply ambivalent: while it challenges traditional authority, it simultaneously reproduces new forms of inequality and digital exclusion. Moreover, this mediated peer interactions offers a micro-level lens through which to observe rural social transformation, as its unique culture of interaction both reflects and contributes to broader structural shifts.