Habitus of generation Z in the new media environment

Social media platforms, which emerged due to the development of new communication technologies, affect many areas in modern social life. It is seen that most users who are in the modern production-consumption relations system and have communication technology tools use social media networks and gain cultural knowledge from these social network environments. The fact that Generation Z spends a lot of time online in social media environments also reveals digital habits to accumulate cultural capital through these platforms. Therefore, regarding Generation Z's acquisition of cultural capital from new media environments (social media platforms); A research was conducted within the scope of Pierre Bourdieu's structure and disposition (social media and digital predispositions) perspective. In this context, with the online survey conducted within the scope of the research, Generation Z individuals between the ages of 18-25 were reached at 12 state universities; It has been tried to measure the cultural capital accumulation habitus of the participants in new media environments in terms of their ability to increase their cultural equipment, gain an intellectual personality, have a preferred status in their social life, and transform their acquired cultural knowledge into economic capital. In the research; What kind of habitus (habits - social subjectivities) Generation Z has created in social media networks in terms of cultural capital accumulation (in determining their intellectual accumulation and position in social spaces) and the cultural capital accumulation habitus that Generation Z has acquired in new media environments (social media platforms); It was aimed to understand whether the research questions differ according to the research questions created based on four independent variables: gender, place of birth, department of education and monthly income. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that Generation Z individuals benefit from social media networks, websites, digital data sources and popular video broadcasts in terms of cultural capital accumulation and follow cultural content accounts. It has been observed that Generation Z individuals who were born and raised in rural areas have more habitus in acquiring cultural capital from new media environments than those who were born and raised in the city center, and Generation Z individuals who belong to low-income groups and families without a regular income have more habitus in acquiring cultural capital from new media environments than individuals from upper-income groups. Regarding the accumulation of cultural capital from social media platforms; It has been concluded that they benefit from digital encyclopedias, follow video broadcasts of experts in their fields, which vary according to their tastes and opinions, benefit from paid digital platforms, and benefit from the daily public, social and magazine sharing flow of social media.