IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v10y2023i1d10.1057_s41599-023-01768-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adaptive agency: the satire genre and the motives behind its use in the era of social media in China

Author

Listed:
  • Yipeng Xi

    (School of Media and Communication)

Abstract

Unlike previous studies analyzing the effect of being exposed to satire, this study adopts a meta-discursive approach to explore the generic features of Chinese satire and the underlying motives and reference frames behind satire use. Drawing on the satire scripts collected from 33 stand-up comedians, I integrated computer-aided topic modeling, discursive historical analysis, and semi-structured interviews to examine how the satirical target is constructed as well as the rationales behind the uses of satire. My findings suggest that most of the Chinese satire analyzed is related to micropolitics in personal social circles, such as gender norms, parent-child relationships, and employment conflicts. These satirical thoughts originate from the satirist’s aversion to inconsistency between words and actions, the release of past trauma, and the performative presentation of morality. I further argue that these reference frames consistently manifest an adaptive agency that satirists simultaneously adapt to the rules while also reestablishing norms in an unconventional way.

Suggested Citation

  • Yipeng Xi, 2023. "Adaptive agency: the satire genre and the motives behind its use in the era of social media in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01768-x
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-01768-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-023-01768-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-023-01768-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01768-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.