LIFESTYLE GOVERNMENTALITY IN CHINA: GOVERNING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CITIZEN SUBJECTS THROUGH LIFESTYLE PRACTICES ON XIAOHONGSHU (RED)

Autores/as

  • Ran Ju University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, United States of America

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13431

Palabras clave:

lifestyle, governmentality, China, platform, entrepreneurial subject

Resumen

Xiaohongshu (Red), the Chinese biggest lifestyle sharing platform, as a collaborator and partner with China’s national cultural and political project (Wang, 2021), aligns with multiple strategies of governing, shaping and guiding citizens through lifestyle practices. In this article, I propose the term ‘lifestyle governmentality’ to capture Red as a cultural technology of citizenship that directs self-managing subjects toward the desired outcomes sought by the institutions of the official government. This research project combines a systematic document analysis of regulations, notices, and guidelines related to platform governance, discourse analysis of Red's content, with walk-through method, and in-depth interviews with Red influencers (n=12) and users (n=35). I suggest that the inducement offered by Red to facilitate and improve users’ personal life, fulfillment and success through lifestyle sharing is distinctly tied to a hybrid model of governmentality that combines neoliberal and socialist political reasoning about governance, enterprise, and social welfare.

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Publicado

2023-12-31

Cómo citar

Ju, . R. (2023). LIFESTYLE GOVERNMENTALITY IN CHINA: GOVERNING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CITIZEN SUBJECTS THROUGH LIFESTYLE PRACTICES ON XIAOHONGSHU (RED). AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research. https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13431

Número

Sección

Papers J