Social Media and the Public Sphere in China: A Case Study of Political Discussion on Weibo after the Wenzhou High-Speed Rail Derailment Accident

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Author(s): Zhou Shan (University of Alabama, USA)and Lu Tang (University of Alabama, USA)
Copyright: 2017
Pages: 16
Source title: Handbook of Research on Citizen Engagement and Public Participation in the Era of New Media
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Marco Adria (University of Alberta, Canada)and Yuping Mao (California State University Long Beach, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1081-9.ch022

Keywords: Business Science Reference / Digital Communications / Government and Law / Media & Communications

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Abstract

This chapter seeks to answer the question of whether microblog can function as a promising form of public sphere. Utilizing a combined framework of public sphere based on the theories of Mouffe (1995) and Dahlgren (2005), it examines the political discussion and interrogation on Sina Weibo, China's leading microblog site, concerning the Wenzhou high-speed train derailment accident in July of 2011 through a critical discourse analysis. Its results suggest that Weibo enables the creation of new social imaginary and genre of discourse as well as the construction of new social identities.

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Social Media and the Public Sphere in China: A Case Study of Political Discussion on Weibo after the Wenzhou High-Speed Rail Derailment Accident

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