Xi Dada loves Peng Mama
Digital culture and the return of charismatic authority in China
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4801451 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Liangen Yin (0000-0003-1955-4305, Shenzhen University), Terry Flew (0000-0003-4485-9338, Queensland University of Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 144 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 80-99 |
| Publication date | 2018-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Thesis Eleven (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0725-5136 • E-ISSN: 1461-7455 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0725513618756098 |
| OpenAlex | W2790462857 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 26 |
With Xi Jinping's consolidation of political power in China, a personality cult has increasingly emerged. In this article, we analyze online documents and state news media to argue that this phenomenon is driven in part by local government officials and traditional media but most significantly by individual Chinese 'netizens'. The current personality cult phenomenon is thus primarily society-driven and bottom-up rather than state-driven and top-down. We argue that the rise of this personality cult around Xi has its roots in national anxiety in an important transitional period in China. While some worry about a possible return to the politics of the Cultural Revolution by encouraging this personality cult, others are responding to economic anxieties and to the social anxieties created by social injustice greatly due to official corruption. We conclude that the possibility of society-driven personality cults will increase over time, as a paradoxical corollary of the potential of new media to allow for the democratization and opening up of politics and culture to new voices
China · Cult · Democracy · Democratization · Media studies · Personality · Phenomenon · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Psychology · Law · Social Psychology
Dependency road
Leader Cults
Mao Cult
Politics as Religion
Chinese Politics in the Era of Xi Jinping
Dialectic of the Chinese Revolution
Locating anxiety in the social
Fascism as Political Religion
Anxiety and Social Explanation
Ideology and Terror
Xi Jinping
Ideology and Modern Culture. Critical Social Theory in the Era of Mass Communication
Media, Civil Society, and the Rise of a Green Public Sphere in China
The Structure of Charismatic Mobilization
Fear and Anxiety
How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression
From Max Weber
Stalin the Charismatic Leader
From Pan-Arabism to Saddam Hussein's cult of personality
Living in the world risk society
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |