Amusing Ourselves to Loyalty? Entertainment, Propaganda, and Regime Resilience in China

• Author: Shouzhi Xia
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10659129211049389
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022

Article

PoliticalResearchQuarterly

2022,Vol.75(4)1096–1112

©TheAuthor(s)2021

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DOI:10.1177/10659129211049389

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AmusingOurselvestoLoyalty?

Entertainment,Propaganda,andRegime

ResilienceinChina

ShouzhiXia

1

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Abstract

Isitpossibletoform“softautocracy”thatmanagescitizensbytakingawaytheirsenseofresistance?Thispapersuggests

thattheriseofentertainmentmediainautocraciesenablestherulerstomaintaintheirresiliencethroughasoftapproach,

therebyavoidingcostlyheavy-handedmeasures.Suchasoftapproachcanworkbecauseentertainmentmedia,like

“fictitiouspleasuredrugs,”undoaudiences’sophisticationsothatpeoplearesusceptibletoautocraticpropaganda.By

analyzingaChinesedataset,viainstrumentedregressions,thispapershowsthataonestandarddeviationincreasein

people’sinterestinentertainmentmediaisassociatedwithanincreaseofalmost20%inboththeirsatisfactionwiththe

currentregimeandtheiranti-Westernhostility.Furthermore,thefindingsshowapositiverelationshipbetweenpeople’s

entertainmentmediainterestandtheiracceptationofindoctrinationbystatemedia.Inshort,entertainmentmedia

contributetoChina’sregimestabilitythrough“amusingordinarycitizenstoloyalty.”

Keywords

entertainmentmedia,propaganda,politicalattitudes,regimeresilience,China

Introduction

Therearetwomainmodelsforautocraticrule.Thefirst

modelis“hardautocracy”inwhichtheauthoritiescontrol

societybyheavy-handedtoolkitsuchassuppressingindi-

vidualrights,coercingdissent,andcensoringinformation,as

GeorgeOrwelldepictsinhisbookNineteenEighty-Four.

Thesecondmodelis“softautocracy,”likethatdepictedin

AldousHuxley’sBraveNewWorld.Inthismodel,the

rulingoligarchyconsolidatespowerbymakingpeople

medicatethemselvesintoblisssoastovoluntarilyfollow

thecurrentregime(Postman1985).Priorresearchchiefly

concentratesonthearrayofcrudetacticsusedbyau-

thoritarianrulers,suchasrepression(Davenport2007;

Shen-Bayh2018;Young2019)andcensorship(King,

Pan,andRoberts2013;Roberts2018;Shadmehrand

Bernhardt2015).However,themoresubtlemeansof

softautocracyhaveattractedlittleattention.Thepresent

papersuggeststhattheriseofentertainmentmediain

autocraciesenablesleaderstomanipulateaveragepeople

viaasoftapproach,namely,takingadvantageoftheside

effectofentertainmentmediatobolsterpeople’sloyalty

towardtheregime.

Thelesscognitivelysophisticatedcitizensareoftena

solidpillarofsupportforsoftautocracybecausetheyare

morelikelytobeconvincedbyautocraticrhetoric

(GeddesandZaller1989),therebyimmersingthemselves

inanillusionwovenbyautocraticleaders.Whileaper-

son’ssophisticationisaffectedbydiversefactors,therole

playedbymassmediaisintegral.Massmedialargely

organizethe“reality”surroundingeverydaylivesofcit-

izens,tellingpeople“whattothinkabout”(Lippmann

1922;Tuchman1978;Zaller1992).Furthermore,

Postman(1985)insightfullypointsoutthatthemediumis

themetaphor,andthegrowingentertainmentattributeof

massmediaworksasa“fictitiouspleasuredrug”that

undoespeople’scapacityforcriticalthinking.Overthe

pastfewdecades,anumberofliteraturehasdemonstrated

thenegativeeffectsthatexposuretoentertainmentmedia

canhaveonthecognitivecomplexityofaveragepeople

especiallychildrenandadolescents(Ennemoserand

Schneider2007;Hernæs,Markussen,andRøed2019;

Singer1980).Forinstance,Hernæs,Markussen,andRøed

1

DepartmentofPoliticalScience,LingnanUniversity,HongKong

CorrespondingAuthor:

ShouzhiXia,DepartmentofPoliticalScience,LingnanUniversity,8

CastlePeakRoad,TuenMun,NewTerritories,HongKong.

Email:kennethxia93@hotmail.com

(2019)findthatincreasedconsumptionofcommercial

televisionbyyoungpeopletendtolowerboththeirIQ

scoresandtheirratesofhighschoolcompletion.1show

thatItalianswhohadlong-termexposuretoMediaset(an

entertainment-basedTVfoundedbyBerlusconi)were

vulnerabletopopulistrhetoricandvotedforBerlusconi’s

partyinthe1994election.

Inrecentdecades,entertainmentmediasuchasvariety

showsandsoapoperashaveflourishedworldwide,in-

cludingmanyautocracies(e.g.,Artz2015).Forinstance,

sincethecollapseoftheSovietUnion,Russianmedia

havebeenheavilycommercialized,andentertainment

mediahavegrownincreasinglypopular(Pietilainen

2008).Turkishdramaserialsarepopularnotonlywith

domesticaudiencesbutarealsoexportedtooverseas

regions(Çevik2020).Apartfromthemarketandsocial

demands,autocraticauthoritiesthathaveexclusivecontrol

overmediapolicyareofteninfluentialintherapiddevel-

opmentofentertainmentmedia;inotherwords,theauthorities

exploitentertainmentasasubtlemeansofmanagingthe

public.Themainapproachinvolvestakingadvantageofthe

sideeffectofentertainmentmediatoincreasepeople’ssus-

ceptibilitytopropaganda.Inparticular,manyautocracieshave

intensifiedpropagandaofnationalism(Gerber2014),thereby

aggravatingthepersuasivenessofpropaganda.Peoplewith

lastingentertainmentmediaconsumptionaremorereadily

convincedbyofficialdiscoursebecausetheyaredifficultto

distinguishbetweenpropagandistrhetoricandfactualinfor-

mation.Gradually,thoseindividualsaremorelikelytosupport

theirautocraticregimes.

ThispaperusesChinaasanexampletotestthisar-

gument.WiththepermissionoftheChineseCommunist

Party(CCP),theriseofentertainmentmediainChinais

remarkable(Bai2005).Asoftheendof2020,thenumber

ofpeopleusinglive-streamingappslikeDouyin(which

mainlysuppliesshortfunnyclips)wasmorethan870

million(ChinaInternetNetworkInformationCenter

2021).Thatnumberisovertwicethepopulationofthe

UnitedStates.Meanwhile,therulingpartyhastriedto

assertthedominanceofofficialrhetoricinthepublic

spherethroughtwomajortactics,namely,reinforcing

anti-Westernnationalisticdiscourseandembracingthe

internetespeciallysocialmedia(e.g.,Creemers2017;

Luqiu2018).Animportanttargetgroupofthispropa-

gandacampaignisthosepeoplewhoareinterestedin

entertainmentmedia.Ifmyargumentiscorrect,compared

tothosepeoplewithoutentertainmentmediapreference,

peopleinterestedinconsumingthismediagenretendtobe

moreloyaltothecurrentregimeandtheyaremorelikely

tobecomehostiletoward“foreignforces”representedby

Westerncountries.

Basedonanationalsurvey(N=2347)conductedby

RenminUniversityofChinain2017,thispaperexplores

therelationshipbetweenpeople’sinterestinentertainment

andtheirpoliticalattitudes.Toaddresstheproblemof

endogeneityofmediapreference,thestudytakesthe

BaiduIndexofthefourmostpopularentertainment

programs(orvarietyshows)from2011to2017asan

instrumentalvariable.

1

EquivalenttoGoogleTrends,the

BaiduIndexreflectsthediversityofpeople’sonline

searchingbehaviorsandcontentpreferencesindifferent

regions.Therefore,IsuggestthattheBaiduIndexof

popularvarietyshowsineachprovinceisassociatedwith

residents’levelofinterestinentertainmentexposure.The

statisticalresultsindeedsupportapositivecorrelation

betweenthesetwovariables.

Theresultsofinstrumentedregressionssupportmy

argument,showingthataonestandarddeviationincrease

inpeople’sinterestinvarietyshowsisassociatedwith

bothanincreaseofabout19percentagepointsintheir

satisfactionwiththecurrentsociopoliticalconditionsin

Chinaandanincreaseofabout16percentagepointsin

theiranti-Westernsentiment.Tochecktherobustnessof

thesefindings,severaladditionalregressionsarecon-

ducted,includingtheuseofalternativecorevariablesand

changingregressionmodels.Moreover,thelatent

mechanismproposedaboveissupported,namely,thereis

apositiverelationshipbetweenpeople’sinterestinen-

tertainmentandtheirexposuretomainstreammedia,

whichserveasmouthpiecesoftheauthorities.

Thispapermakesseveralcontributions.First,although

greatscholarlyattentionhasbeenpaidtothesociopolitical

implicationsofentertainmentmediaindemocraticsettings

(BoukesandBoomgaarden2016;KimandVishak2008;Prior

2005),fewstudies,tomyknowledge,haveinvestigatedthe

influencebroughtbyentertainmentmediainautocracies.This

studyfillsinthegapbyproposingandtestingamechanismfor

thelatentpoliticaleffectsthatentertainmentmediahaveon

authoritariancitizens.Second,abodyofliteraturehasyielded

mixedresultsoftheeffectofautocraticpropaganda;specifi-

cally,someconfirmtheeffectivenessofpropaganda(e.g.,

Adenaetal.2015;Yanagizawa-Drott2014),whileothersdraw

theoppositeconclusion(e.g.,Bushetal.2016;Huang2018).

Thefindingsofthisstudyindicatethatthisdisparateresult

mightbedrivenbythefeatureofaudiences,thatis,whether

peoplearevulnerabletoautocraticdiscourseaffectstheper-

suasiveeffect.Finally,thefindingsofthispapershouldprompt

scholarstopayattentiontothe“softautocracy”model—to

avoidthehighcostsofadoptingcrudemeansofcontrol,

contemporaryautocraciesmightmakeuseofsofttacticsfor

inducingpeopletosupporttheirregimesvoluntarily.

“SoftAutocracy”:Entertainment

PromotesAuthoritarianResilience

Howcontemporaryautocraciesmaintainstabilityhas

attractedgreatscholarlyattention.Manyscholarsstriveto

provideexplanationsfromvariousperspectives;most

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