Book Review: Decoding the Digital Church: Evangelical Storytelling and the Election of Donald J. Trump, by Stephanie Martin

Abstract

The text attaches great importance to scrutinize the dynamic process in which different social agents (regimes) with varying socioeconomic statuses articulate and negotiate their power on the Chinese internet. Then Yuan introduces us to various forms of internet sociality which is “fluid, porous, and interstitial, embodying the multi-layered complexity of contemporary communication.” These diverse discursive practices can not only help express and build the internet identities of social actors, but can also significantly reorganize the structure underlying those symbolic exchanges and social interactions. Yuan reiterates the important role that the internet plays in changing the contemporary China culturally, economically, and politically, while recognizing both macrodiscourses of power and authority, and micro-discursive practices of individuals and groups. Yuan argues that the Web of Meaning has provided us a more “pluralistic, open, relational” perspective of the contemporary public sphere on the Chinese internet. The conclusion recommends the field framework adopted in the book over the prominent public sphere theory for understanding the Chinese internet. Relatively, the last case of Alibaba seems to be a little weak when it was used to exemplify the perfect combination of two extraordinary developments in China: market economy and network technology in past 20 years due to lack of empirical evidence. The rise of Alibaba is indeed phenomenal as the largest e-commerce company in China. We suspect that the author has elevated the symbolic power of market economy and network technologies over that of the Chinese authoritarian government. The state-sanctioned capitalism can only flourish under the hegemony of the Chinese Communist Party. The more recent crackdown of Chinese internet companies including Alibaba and Didi demonstrated to the world who is actually in charge. Overall, this book has made significant contributions to the understanding of the social, cultural, and political implications of Chinese internet. It will be of great value to students and researchers in such fields as new media and the internet studies, critical cultural studies, cultural sociology, and media economics. Because of its focus on critical discourse and the sociology of practices, the book will also be of interest to the scholars of linguistics, semiotics, discourse analysis, and cultural sociology.