Digital public sphere and ordinary knowledge in China : a sociological analysis of two public controversies (demographic and epidemic policies)
(2025)
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- Abstract
- Against the backdrop of China's advancing modernization, the development of social media platforms has increasingly become a crucial arena for public opinion exchange. Although China is not a "democratic" state, digital public spheres have provided Chinese civil society with unprecedented opportunities for discussion and dialogue. Habermas' theory posits that the public sphere aims to encourage the exchange and fusion of viewpoints among participants through public discourse, thereby fostering communicative rationality and democratic participation in political decision-making. However, if the public sphere operates improperly, it may also lead to polarization and hinder the formation of communicative rationality. This study aims to deeply explore whether polarization occurs in public debates mediated by knowledge within China's digital public sphere. To ensure the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the findings, this study employed multiple research methods. Firstly, in terms of case selection, this study meticulously chose debates on population policy (social science domain) and COVID-19 prevention and control (natural science domain) as case studies, both of which possess broad representativeness and practical significance. Secondly, in data collection, this study gathered a substantial amount of textual material from the online public sphere and utilized NVivo software and DHA for coding, word frequency analysis, and qualitative research, followed by a meticulous comparative analysis with other textual materials. The study reveals that the formation and development of the digital public sphere have enabled participants with diverse viewpoints to engage in more extensive and in-depth exchanges and debates. However, in controversies involving scientific arguments, this study also observed a trend towards polarization. Furthermore, scientific knowledge, acting as an intermediary for communicative action in public debates, has undergone significant changes in its paradigm structure during the transformation from scientific knowledge to ordinary knowledge, which may be one of the reasons contributing to viewpoint polarization. Consequently, the knowledge structure disseminated in public social networks is an issue that the sociology of knowledge should now seriously consider. The findings of this study not only offer a new perspective for understanding the operation of the digital public sphere within China's specific context but also provide a fresh vantage point for future research in the sociology of knowledge.
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Li, Y. (2025). Digital public sphere and ordinary knowledge in China : a sociological analysis of two public controversies (demographic and epidemic policies). https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/248802