How does social media change Chinese political culture? The formation of fragmentized public sphere

Abstract

Social media promotes a broad discussion about the contemporary public sphere in China. Analyzing the relationship between social media and democratic politics in the unique context of China helps us to rethink a metamorphosis of Habermas’s public sphere model. The study supports the idea that the online public sphere more often than not transforms into a fragmentized formation of the multiple tensions between participatory democracy, journalism transformation and governmental authority. It may be difficult, under a single theoretical framework of civil society, to map out the complexities in Chinese social media. The key point is how a fragmentized structure of the public sphere has been integrated in the power game process of achieving consensus. Based on the special Internet policies and political environment in China, the implication of public sphere theory in Chinese social media is reconsidered.