The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom by Evgeny Morozov New York: Public Affairs, 2011 409 pages $16.99 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In January 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a highly touted speech on Internet freedom in which she stated, "The freedom to connect is like the freedom of assembly, only in cyberspace. It allows individuals to get online, come together, and hopefully cooperate. Once you're on the Internet, you don't need to be a tycoon or a rock star to have a huge impact on society." Evgeny Morozov, in his book The Net Delusion, takes great issue with the implication, however, that the so-called "Arab Spring" and "Twitter Revolution" were caused by unfettered access to the Internet. Instead, Morozov, a research academic, provides a cautionary tale about what he argues is any attempt to establish a monocausal relationship to meaningful political change (especially when that single focus is information technology). The book opens with a discussion of cyber-utopianism and Internet-centrism--mind-sets that focus on the positive "emancipatory" aspects of Internet communication while ignoring the downsides. The argument throughout centers on nation-state policy, or lack thereof, that attacks the "wicked" problem of authoritarianism by, as a colleague of mine has dubbed it, "wiring the world." Morozov, expectantly, but importantly, cites the hedonistic world portrayed by Huxley and the "Big Brother" world of Orwell to consider both the proactive and reactive approaches to Internet freedom by authoritarian regimes. Interestingly, he notes that there is often a mix of both. Such regimes certainly use the anonymity and openness of the Internet to spy on their people and shutdown undesirable sites. But there is also a subtle approach that belies the jackboot on the keyboard methodology. While China may be known more for suppressing the Internet and for employing the masses to counter antiregime rhetoric, Russia imposes no formal Internet censorship. It relies on entertainment (porn is specifically cited) to soothe the masses, assuming that given options for political discourse and anything else, most opt for "anything else." Hitler would understand. And in nations where freedom is not widely understood from a western perspective, any bit of additional mindless diversion may be viewed as liberty by the populace. Perhaps most importantly, Morozov rails against social media determinism as driving the end of authoritarianism, labeling it "an intellectually impoverished, lazy way to study the past, understand the present, and predict the future." He does not dismiss the value of Facebook and Twitter to quickly mobilize like-minded individuals. He notes as well that the development of that very like-mindedness is complex and potentially can be manipulated by authoritarian governments using the same Internet freedom. …

The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom

According to system justification theory, people are motivated to preserve the belief that existing social arrangements are fair, legitimate, and justifiable (Jost & Banaji, 1994). The strongest form of this hypothesis, which draws on the logic of cognitive dissonance theory, holds that people who are most disadvantaged by the status quo would have the greatest psychological need to reduce ideological dissonance and would therefore be most likely to support, defend, and justify existing social systems, authorities, and outcomes. Variations on this hypothesis were tested in four U.S. national survey studies. We found that: (a) low income respondents and African Americans were more likely than others to support limitations on the rights of citizens and media representatives to criticize the government (b) low income Latinos were more likely to trust in U.S. government officials and to believe that "the government is run for the benefit of all" than were high income Latinos, (c) Southerners in the U.S. were more likely to endorse meritocratic belief systems than were Northerners and poor and Southern African Americans were more likely to subscribe to meritocratic ideologies than were African Americans who were more affluent and from the North, (d) low income respondents and African Americans were more likely than others to believe that economic inequality is legitimate and necessary, and (e) stronger endorsement of meritocratic ideology was associated with greater satisfaction with one's own economic situation. Taken together, these findings provide support for the dissonance-based argument that people who suffer the most from a given state of affairs are paradoxically the least likely to question, challenge, reject, or change it. Implications for theories of system justification, cognitive dissonance, and social change are also discussed.

Social Inequality and the Reduction of Ideological Dissonance on Behalf of the System: Evidence of Enhanced System Justification among the Disadvantaged

China's New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy. By Peter Hays Gries. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. 224p. $24.95.Arguments in the West over the existence of a “China threat” frequently atomize and even demonize China, as the author of the book points out at the beginning. Is Chinese nationalism benign or malign? The rise of Chinese nationalism in recent times has become an issue of great interest and importance to the world because of concerns over China's intentions as economic growth propels the country's ascendance onto the world stage. This timely account analyzes the sources and dimensions of the new nationalism, from what Peter Hays Gries calls the “rarely told Chinese side of the story” (p. 4). It is premised on a refreshing perspective that “to understand Chinese nationalism, we must listen to the Chinese” (p. 4). Gries's attempt to introduce Western scholars to the views of these new nationalists is an important contribution in itself, as so often mainstream views of Chinese nationalism in the West construe it as a tool to legitimize Communist Party rule. This book gets it right by taking Chinese nationalism seriously and treats it as a matter of genuine popular base and emotional content.

China's New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy

.Media Commercialization and Authoritarian Rule in China, by Daniela Stockmann. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. xxii + 334 pp. US$95.00 (hardcover), US$76.00 (eBook).This book is essential reading for scholars interested in the rapid development of China's media industry and its implications for China and authoritarian regimes around the world. Using a mixed-method approach that combines extensive fieldwork and interviews with an impressive quantitative analysis, the book wades confidently into ongoing debates about the nature and consequences of China's increasingly commercialized media.Previous scholarship has established the basic outline of China's media commercialization and press control. We know that China's press is heavily censored, and the general mechanisms of this censorship are well established. We know that, since the Chinese Party-state eased off direct media funding in the 1990s and 2000s, media outlets increasingly rely directly on market mechanisms, mainly advertisements and subscription fees. Stockmann breaks no new ground in briefly rehearsing this story, but provides a good overview of these critical developments.Stockmann's key innovation is to examine the direct consequences of China's newly vibrant media market on the attitudes and beliefs of Chinese media audiences. In other words, how does a competitive market-based press coexist with an authoritarian political system? The answer is both counter-intuitive and simple. The book's "core finding", Stockmann writes, "is that the commercialized look of branding of marketized media induces readers to perceive media sources as more credible" (p. 5) than they find direct state media like the Peoples Daily to be.Stockmann has presented this argument-that a commercialized press actually helps strengthen authoritarian rule-elsewhere in article form, but here she gathers diverse evidence masterfully to drive the point home. Content analysis data indicate that minimal differences exist in the actual news content between "marketized" and "state" newspapers; branding differences, by contrast, are vast. On most issues, the book argues, there is little tension between market and audience demands on the one hand and the demands of official censors on the other. "Only when it comes to negative news do media practitioners experience tension between market demands and the goals of the state" (p. 98). In other words, on most issues there is little need for direct state control of the press, as even a marketized press delivers the message which the Party-state wants to send-and delivers it more convincingly than does official propaganda.This argument is based around an examination of two key areas: China's relationship with the United States, and labor law. Both are chosen as semi-sensitive areas where the Party-state provides clear guidance but also leaves a lot of room for individual journalists to maneuver. In the case of China's labor law, authorities have made a concerted effort in recent years to highlight the law's success and to encourage disgruntled workers to use the law rather than extrajudicial mechanisms to redress grievances. …

Media Commercialization and Authoritarian Rule in China

In 2016, Little Pink has emerged as the label for a new wave of female-led cyber-nationalism in China. While increasingly popularized in media and online discourses, little is known about the evolu...

Demystifying “Little Pink”: The creation and evolution of a gendered label for nationalistic activists in China:

As populist nationalism and criticism of government emerge from the Chinese online sphere, the potential influence of public engagement in online communication on Chinese politics has drawn much scholarly and media attention. To illuminate the role of user-generated online communication for political change, this study investigates how online political expression among Chinese Internet users relates to their nationalistic attitudes and support of the status quo. An analysis of survey data demonstrates that online political expression, facilitated by news consumption, enhances support for the existing sociopolitical system both directly and indirectly through nationalism. The results suggest that partial inclusion of the public in the online deliberation process serves to bolster system stability and legitimacy, as the Chinese Communist Party intends.

The role of new media in sustaining the status quo: online political expression, nationalism, and system support in China

Although the rise of nationalistic activism in the Chinese online sphere has drawn much scholarly attention, few studies have examined how nationalism, usages, and motivations of the Internet affect nationalistic actions among general Internet users in China. Using Sino-Japanese diplomatic disputes as a testing ground, this study investigates the effects of news use from traditional and new media, nationalistic attitudes, and motivations for Internet use on anti-Japanese political behaviors such as boycotting and protest participation. Analyses of online survey data revealed that nationalism is positively correlated with information-seeking and social-interaction motivations for Internet use regarding Sino-Japanese disputes. Results also showed that the stronger the motivation for using the Internet to discuss topics associated with Sino-Japanese disputes, the more likely respondents engaged in anti-Japanese behaviors. This study indicates that nationalistic attitudes and motivations involved in the use o...

Jinhee Kim

Papers

The role of new media in sustaining the status quo: online political expression, nationalism, and system support in China

News use, nationalism, and Internet use motivations as predictors of anti-Japanese political actions in China