Gender inequality, class-bound relationships, and filial piety: contextualized use of dating Apps in China

Abstract

China's large population of unmarried individuals presents significant potential for dating and marriage practices, traditionally overseen by parents. The emergence of dating apps has provided young adults with the opportunity to take control of their partner search, expanding the dating pool and potentially challenging traditional marriage patterns. However, existing research in China has not adequately explored the relationship between app usage and contextual factors such as gender inequality, class-based relationship orientations, and filial piety. This study aims to investigate the influence of contextual factors on dating app usage in the Chinese context, including motives, app preferences, and partner preferences, in order to contribute to our understanding of changing dating practices in China. Additionally, this study seeks to examine how income, education, occupation, hukou (household registration system), and housing, which define social class, shape dating app usage. It also aims to address the limitations of the Uses and Gratifications Theory in explaining context-specific app usage. A combination of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and online observation data will be used to address the core research questions. The quantitative data will be analyzed using SPSS, while thematic analysis will be employed to analyze the qualitative data. Based on 977 surveys, 25 interviews with dating app users, and a 2-year online observation, this study applies Bourdieu's theory of class and habitus, as well as gender theories, to explore how gender and class inequality are reflected and perpetuated in dating apps in China. The findings demonstrate that class-related elements, such as income, education, and occupation, have a significant influence on users' motivations for selecting potential partners on dating apps. Furthermore, users' habits and preferences, shaped by their social class, impact their engagement with dating apps, their motives for usage, and their preferences for potential partners. These differences hinder users from establishing long-term or close relationships with partners from different social classes, despite the opportunities dating apps provide for connecting with them. Consequently, dating apps perpetuate and reinforce class-based relationships, as users are more comfortable interacting with individuals from similar backgrounds. Additionally, the study reveals that dating apps do not alleviate the presence of double sexual standards, whereby men are often praised while women are stigmatized for engaging in sexual activities. Instead, these platforms perpetuate and amplify the significance of male users' socioeconomic status and female users' physical attractiveness. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that contemporary Chinese users pragmatically utilize dating apps as a supplementary channel to traditional blind dating in order to fulfill the societal expectation of "getting married at the right age." While dating apps can offer women the opportunity to challenge male-dominated relationships, satisfy their sexual desires, and question traditional notions of long-term relationships and gender roles, users ultimately endorse conventional dating values and marriage. These findings support the central argument that dating apps reflect and perpetuate gender inequality, filial cultures, and class-based relationships in China. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Date of Award	15 Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Nottingham
Supervisor	Mary Ainslie (Supervisor) & Filippo Gilardi (Supervisor)