This study pioneers the integration of Marxist dialectical materialism with multilevel moderated mediation modeling, addressing the long-standing gap between critical theory and empirical research in cultural narrative studies. Drawing on a multi-stage stratified random sample of 4827 respondents across 127 communities in 36 cities from 12 provinces in China, we employ a three-level hierarchical linear model (individual-community-city) to empirically test structural mechanisms of cultural narrative production. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses extract a four-dimensional structure of Marxist discourse: class critical consciousness, collective value identity, historical materialist conception, and dialectical thinking mode, with cumulative explained variance of 68.47%. Multilevel analysis reveals the positive correlation between production relations and critical consciousness (r = 0.51, p < 0.01), the crucial mediating role of cultural capital (r = 0.62, p < 0.01), and significant cross-level moderation effects of discourse resource density (γ = −0.134, p < .01). Three-way interaction analysis confirms complex mechanisms among individual, community, and city-level factors (γ = −0.082, p < 0.05), with the deconstructive effect of critical consciousness being strongest in economically developed environments rich in discourse resources (β = −0.493). Heterogeneity analysis reveals significant differences across age, education, and regional groups. This research demonstrates the feasibility of translating complex Marxist frameworks into sophisticated statistical models while maintaining critical content, providing quantitative evidence for understanding ideological production in contemporary Chinese society.
Zhang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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