Performing Nationalism: Celebrity Politics and Audience Boundary Work Under Authoritarianism
中文摘要
威权情境中的公民如何解读嵌入日常生活的民族主义讯息？尽管研究表明民族主义通过日常实践得以再生产，但关于受众如何解读、适应或抵制官方讯息——以及为何如此——我们所知仍然有限。我论证，对外表现出的民族主义迎合之所以延续，并非因为一致的信念，而是因为分歧的解读路径最终汇聚为表层意义上的顺从。本研究考察中国的娱乐产业，国家在其中动员名人来放大民族主义讯息。采用两阶段混合方法设计，我首先对互联网用户进行调查（N = 2,211），结果表明，受众认为名人的民族主义越轨行为比非政治性不当行为显著更为严重，且在不同社会群体之间存在系统性差异。为揭示这种异质性背后的解读逻辑，我利用55次深度访谈，识别出四种取向，它们由个体的主要信息储备及其在民族共同体中自我定位的切身经历所塑造。这些取向从情感肯定，到务实的顺从，再到能够实现间接批评的策略性再解读。通过揭示与名人文化的日常接触——例如刷过某位明星的民族主义帖子——如何使民族主义期待常态化，我证明这一意识形态即使在内在化有限的情况下也能延续。本研究以中国案例为基础，推进了关于威权情境下文化治理、受众对官方讯息的接受以及象征性边界建构的讨论。
Abstract
How do citizens in authoritarian contexts interpret nationalist messages embedded in everyday life? While research shows that nationalism is reproduced through routine practices, less is known about how audiences interpret, adapt to, or contest official messages—and why. I argue that outward nationalist alignment persists not through uniform conviction, but because divergent interpretive pathways converge on surface-level conformity. This study examines China’s entertainment industry, where the state mobilizes celebrities to amplify nationalist messages. Using a two-stage mixed-methods design, I first survey internet users ( N = 2,211) to show that audiences judge celebrities’ nationalist transgressions as significantly more severe than non-political misconduct, with systematic variation across social groups. To uncover the interpretive logics behind this heterogeneity, I draw on 55 in-depth interviews, identifying four orientations shaped by individuals’ primary information repertoire and lived experiences of positioning within the national community. These orientations range from emotional affirmation to pragmatic compliance to tactical reinterpretation that enables indirect critique. By revealing how everyday encounters with celebrity culture—such as scrolling past a star’s nationalist post—normalize nationalist expectations, I demonstrate that the ideology endures even where internalization is limited. Grounded in the Chinese case, the study advances debates on cultural governance, audience reception of official messaging, and symbolic boundary-making in authoritarian settings.