When the party starts partying: structure, logic, and contradictions of propaganda in China’s new era
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
This dissertation develops around the following contradiction: How has the propaganda system in China mobilized public expression while also repressing it? While conventional literature usually considers heavy censorship as the defining feature of China’s propaganda system, a modern (and modernist) state such as China also relies on positive inputs from citizens to its ideological engineering project. Since the 2010s, the increasingly tightened control has been accompanied by an increasingly visible participation of popular culture in party-state propaganda. This contradiction demands a reexamination of the concepts of propaganda and ideology. Using insider interviews, ethnography, and critical discourse analysis, this dissertation argues that the key to understanding the contradiction lies in changing the conceptualization of propaganda. In the 2010s, the main strategy of China’s propaganda system shifts from making clear-cut prohibitive rules to engineering societal norms that discipline people’s thinking and push citizens to internalize the state’s interest. In other words, propaganda is not simply a top-down imposition of doctrine and dogma, but instead is diffused in the society as discourse and culture, which creates an immersive experience for citizens, constantly reconstructing their subjectivities.
Description
2023
License
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International