{"title":"THE INDOCTRINATION DIMENSION OF REPRESSION: TELEVISED CONFESSIONS IN CHINA*","authors":"Diana Fu","doi":"10.17813/1086-671x-28-3-323","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Public confessions are repression spectacles that have appeared in different regimes and historical periods. This study theorizes an indoctrination dimension of repression—the turning of punishment into a control tool that displays the regime’s apparent transformative power. Whereas repression is often defined by its inhibiting dimension, this study argues that authorities stage repressive spectacles not only to deter further dissent but also as an instrument of “thought reform,” a governance tradition in China. The study finds two indoctrinating narratives based on an interpretive analysis of a dataset of televised confessions in China. First, confessions show a doctrine of political dissident as traitorous and immoral. Second, they convey a doctrine of rectification that displays the seemingly transformative power of the regime, one in which transgressors perform law-abiding citizens. These findings advance the conceptual refinement of repression by analyzing its indoctrination dimension.","PeriodicalId":47309,"journal":{"name":"Mobilization","volume":"59 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mobilization","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.17813/1086-671x-28-3-323","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"SOCIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Public confessions are repression spectacles that have appeared in different regimes and historical periods. This study theorizes an indoctrination dimension of repression—the turning of punishment into a control tool that displays the regime’s apparent transformative power. Whereas repression is often defined by its inhibiting dimension, this study argues that authorities stage repressive spectacles not only to deter further dissent but also as an instrument of “thought reform,” a governance tradition in China. The study finds two indoctrinating narratives based on an interpretive analysis of a dataset of televised confessions in China. First, confessions show a doctrine of political dissident as traitorous and immoral. Second, they convey a doctrine of rectification that displays the seemingly transformative power of the regime, one in which transgressors perform law-abiding citizens. These findings advance the conceptual refinement of repression by analyzing its indoctrination dimension.
期刊介绍:
Mobilization: An International Quarterly is the premier journal of research specializing in social movements, protests, insurgencies, revolutions, and other forms of contentious politics. Mobilization was first published in 1996 to fill the need for a scholarly review of research that focused exclusively with social movements, protest and collective action. Mobilization is fully peer-reviewed and widely indexed. A 2003 study, when Mobilization was published semiannually, showed that its citation index rate was 1.286, which placed it among the top ten sociology journals. Today, Mobilization is published four times a year, in March, June, September, and December. The editorial board is composed of thirty internationally recognized scholars from political science, sociology and social psychology. The goal of Mobilization is to provide a forum for global, scholarly dialogue. It is currently distributed to the top international research libraries and read by the most engaged scholars in the field. We hope that through its wide distribution, different research strategies and theoretical/conceptual approaches will be shared among the global community of social movement scholars, encouraging a collaborative process that will further the development of a cumulative social science.