從新新人類到躺平族 — 分析臺灣年輕人自1990至2022年在報導中的再現與轉變

Abstract

不論在哪個時空背景之下，在描述青年世代時，媒體在報導中經常使用各式標籤概括描述年輕族群。本研究分析近三十年報紙對年輕族群的各式標籤，包含其出現的時間點與近三十年的變動。並據此探究不同時期與年輕族群相關的報導如何反映當時的社會議題？再近一步觀察這些標籤所處的文本脈絡語言特徵。例如觀察主流媒體是否有透過特定詞彙加強這些標籤之於年輕人的框架？這些框架又如何呈現社會對於青年的正面與負面評論？

透過大量蒐集在1990年代至2022年間包含年輕人相關代稱的文本，本研究首先觀察不同標籤的首次出現時間，以及分佈的年份、文本數量起伏等，並分析各個標籤或代稱背後牽涉的集體記憶。接著，本研究進一步以半自動化主題建模的方式，梳理年輕人新聞報導文本在不同時期的內容，並分析各時期的主題、關鍵字以及相對應的刻板印象。最後，本文透過自動化文字探勘工具，利用情緒分析還有搭配詞分析方法，探討新聞報導如何透過特定的言語框架呈現出對年輕人的正、負面印象，並分析這些說法與哪些詞彙相近。

研究結果發現，臺灣主流媒體使用世代標籤從未間斷，且各標籤之出現時間點與銳減時期皆有所重疊，在1990年代有臺灣飲料廣告商創造了「新新人類」一說，並同時有「X世代」、「Y世代」等標籤被廣為運用；在2000年代，則轉換為「六年級生」、「七年級生」、「草莓族」等；在2010年後，則有「媽寶」、「靠爸族」、「躺平族」等標籤指涉年輕人。進一步推算上述各時期的年輕人代稱，「新新人類」、「X世代」等指涉的為現今50、60歲的族群，即將步入老年；「六年級生」、「七年級生」、「Y世代」、「草莓族」等則指涉現在35至50歲的族群，為社會重要的青壯年勞動力人口；「媽寶」、「Z世代」、「八年級生」、「躺平族」等則指涉現在正值 18至35歲的族群，是當代的年輕人。

接著，以主題模型方法對1990、2000、2010年代三個時期各建立12個主題，並以五大面向「工作職場」、「政治與社會環境」、「消費習慣」、「教育文化」、「科技」等對上述三個時期各12個主題進行整合。觀察各時期的主題，可發現年輕族群在消費行為與市場商機方面備受關注，但經常會與不善理財、只愛花錢的刻板印象連結。同時，研究者也發現，關於青年族群在性與犯罪方面的討論在各時期皆被高度討論。而1990年代的文本相較於2000年代及2010年代的文本，明顯較少提及年輕族群善用科技的文本，遂無形成科技主題。工作職場方面，則以世代管理及年輕人抗壓性差等內容為主軸。整體而言，各時期報導主題多能夠與時下社會、政治議題與經濟現狀呼應，也能對應新聞媒體和社會大眾對年輕族群既有的刻板印象與認知。

最後，透過情緒分析以及搭配詞分析方法，本研究以程度構式「越來越」、副詞「都是」以及社會慣用說法「現在年輕人」等三大類型的文本探討報導的態度再現。結果發現，在理當客觀、中立的新聞報導中，三種言語框架在與積極和消極的字詞搭配後，皆會形成對於年輕族群的特定評價，例如積極的評價會涉及創業、購屋、消費等面向，消極的評價則涉及不善理財、抗壓性低、沈迷玩樂等面向。研究者並觀察，這三種類型的言語框架皆顯示世代間他者化現象，也呈現出說話者把自己視為「上一代」、年輕族群為「下一代」，而蘊含的「一代不如一代」的批判。

On newspapers, young people are often dubbed in certain umbrella terms, such as “Strawberries”, “Generation X” or “Mama’s Boy”, which are created by online forums, Taiwanese writers or foreign cultures. As the terms are deeply connected with young people, the motivation and context are not fully discussed and explored. To better understand the phenomenon, the research intends to find out the time, the themes and the positive and negative images of young people presented in the news stories. The study collects data from United Daily News (聯合新聞網) from 1990 to 2022. For the first research question, the research applies quantitative analysis to explore the collective memories young people have in different time periods. Following the exploration, the research analyzes the data by automatic method topic modeling to construct topics and analyze the stereotypes against young people. Finally, the study adopts sentiment analysis and collocation analysis to examine three different types of linguistic patterns including“越來越”,“都/都是”and“現在年輕人”.

The study uncovers that since the 1990s, terms such as “New New Human” and “Generation X” are widely used in news stories, followed by “Strawberries、Sixth Grader”, “Seventh Grader” and “Generation Y” in the 2000s. After the 2010s, “Mama’s Boy”, “Eighth Grader”, “Generation Z” and “Lying Flat Generation” are frequently used in news stories as well. The terms occur in news media continuously, indicating how Taiwanese media outlets tend to use umbrella terms to refer to young people in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the study discovers that the terms in 1990s are for the 50-60 year-old age group, which are in their late adulthood; the terms in 2000s are for the 35-50 year-old age group, which are the core labor force in society; the terms in 2010s are for the 20-35 year-old age group right now, which are the current younger generation.

Then, 12 themes are established for each period through topic modeling. The results unveil that the themes mostly fall into five aspects: workplace, political and social environment, consumption, education and culture, and technology. While most topics are related to consumption, the study finds that the contents often build up a lazy and uncompetitive image of young people. Meanwhile, the study discloses that discussions about sex and crime among young people occur frequently in each period as well. Compared with the texts of the 2000s and 2010s, the texts in the 1990s have fewer texts mentioning young people’s excellence in technology. All in all, most themes in each period can echo the current social, political issues and economic status quo, and can correspond to the existing stereotypes and perceptions of young people by the news media and the general public.

Finally, through sentiment analysis and collocation analysis, the study uncovers that the three construction“越來越”,“都/都是'' and “現在年輕人” indicate intergenerational othering that views young people as out-group are not as good as previous generations. In addition, the study finds that positive evaluations involve young people in entrepreneurship, home buying and consumption, as negative evaluations are associated with young people’s poor financial management, incapability to handle stress and indulging in leisure activities.