“The Differential Mode of Association” in Cyberspace: Sociological Research on “Crowdfunding”

Abstract

The network charity is a new form of charity rising in the network age. The charity projects implemented on the network platform show considerably different crowdfunding effect. According to the analysis of the three crowdfunding cases on the ``Qingsongchou'' platform, the WeChat circle is derived from the realist social circle, so the size, resources and composition of the realistic social circle of an individual will impose an impact on the WeChat circle, thus leading to the considerably different crowdfunding effect of the WeChat circle. Despite the great social significance of network crowdfunding, some groups of weak social resources are still not connected to the Internet, and special attention shall be paid to them.