The Web of Meaning : : The Internet in a Changing Chinese Society / / Elaine Jingyan Yuan.

• VerfasserIn: Yuan, Elaine Jingyan,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (200 p.) :; 12 figures

Taking off at the height of China’s socio-economic reforms in the mid-1990s, the Internet developed alongside the twists and turns of the country’s rapid transformation. Central to many aspects of social change, the Internet has played an indispensable role in the decentralization of political communication, the expansion of the market, and the stratification of society in China. Through three empirical cases – online privacy, cyber-nationalism, and the network market – this book traces how different social actors engage in negotiating the practices, social relations, and power structures that define these evolving institutions in Chinese society. Examining rich user-generated social media data with innovative methods such as semantic network analysis and topic modelling, The Web of Meaning provides a solid empirical base to critique the power relationships that are embedded in the very fibre of Chinese society.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 The Internet and Social Change in China -- 2 The Rise of the Internet as Symbolic Space -- 3 Assembling Network Privacy -- 4 Articulating Cyber-nationalism -- 5 Constructing the Network Market -- Conclusion -- References -- Index