Great. Let’s build a tailored discourse analysis framework for analyzing CCP ideology as a discursive complex, using a hybrid method grounded in Foucauldian, Lacanian, and critical discourse analysis (CDA) traditions. This will help you examine how CCP discourse constructs reality, organizes subjectivity, and maintains power—and how it might also crack under pressure.
Title (Working):
“The Discursive Complex of CCP Ideology: Power, Fantasy, and the Production of National Subjectivity”
I. Research Questions (choose or refine):
• How does CCP discourse construct a unified national identity and historical mission?
• How are citizens interpellated into subject positions of loyalty, gratitude, or fear?
• What fantasies and master signifiers organize the ideological structure?
• Where does the discourse fail—what are its contradictions, silences, or symptomatic ruptures?
II. Theoretical Anchors:
|
Tradition |
Concept |
Use |
|
Foucault |
Power/knowledge; discourse regimes |
Analyze how CCP discourse legitimizes rule and constructs “truth” |
|
Lacan/Parker |
Discursive complex, fantasy, master signifier, split subject, jouissance |
Examine unconscious investments and subject positions |
|
CDA (Fairclough) |
Text/context, interdiscursivity, hegemony |
Link discourse features with social and institutional functions |
III. Methodological Steps:
1. Define Corpus
• Official CCP documents (e.g. Party Congress speeches, White Papers)
• Xi Jinping’s speeches and “Xi Jinping Thought”
• State media (People’s Daily, Xinhua)
• Patriotic education materials, textbooks
• Propaganda posters or short videos
2. Contextual Mapping
• Post-1949 historical trajectory
• Post-Tiananmen legitimacy crisis
• Rise of nationalism post-2008
• Global positioning (vs. U.S., Taiwan, Xinjiang, etc.)
Ask:
• What historical traumas or victories are activated?
• What enemies or threats are emphasized?
3. Identify Master Signifiers (S1s)
• “人民” (The People)
• “伟大复兴” (Great Rejuvenation)
• “稳定” (Stability)
• “发展” (Development)
• “中国特色” (Chinese characteristics)
These anchor meaning, but are also empty—they gather contradictory discourses while disallowing certain critiques.
4. Discursive Constructions of Subjectivity
Analyze how discourse positions the subject:
• Grateful citizen (recipient of Party’s grace)
• Sacrificing patriot (agent of rejuvenation)
• Suspicious dissident (deviant, foreign-influenced)
• Loyal diaspora (dutiful overseas extension)
Ask:
• Who is allowed to speak as “Chinese”?
• Who is excluded or demonized?
5. Analyze Fantasy Structure (Lacanian angle)
Use the fantasy formula $ ◊ a:
• $ = Split subject (the citizen, never fully integrated)
• a = Object-cause of desire (national glory, return to greatness, global respect)
Fantasy: “If we all follow the Party, we will finally be whole again.”
Look for:
• Repeated metaphors of healing, rising, overcoming humiliation
• The role of enemies (U.S., separatists, internal chaos) in sustaining the fantasy
6. Examine Jouissance (libidinal investment)
Ask:
• Where does enjoyment lie?
• Is there pleasure in repression? in unity? in hatred of the Other?
• What is the emotional tone of propaganda—pride, fear, shame, love?
7. Spot Contradictions and Silences
• Silence around Tiananmen, Cultural Revolution, internal dissent
• Contradictions: authoritarianism vs. “people’s democracy,” nationalism vs. internationalism
These are points where the discursive complex cracks—where the Real intrudes.
IV. Example Coding Grid (for Text Analysis)
|
Feature |
Example Phrase |
Function |
|
Master Signifier |
“中国梦” |
Anchors discourse, organizes desire |
|
Subject Position |
“14亿人民的坚强后盾” |
Positions Party as protector |
|
Fantasy Frame |
“从站起来、富起来到强起来” |
Promise of redemption and completion |
|
Exclusion/Othering |
“境外敌对势力” |
Constructs threat to justify unity |
|
Jouissance |
“奉献精神” / “牺牲小我” |
Pleasure in submission/sacrifice |
|
Silences |
—No mention of Tiananmen— |
Suppression of disruptive Real |
V. Expected Outcomes:
• Reveal how CCP ideology operates as a discursive complex that links discourse, power, affect, and unconscious fantasy.
• Show how it produces subjects and structures national identity around trauma, promise, and repression.
• Identify the cracks and sites of resistance, where counter-discourses (e.g. satire, trauma writing, diaspora voices) challenge the coherence of the dominant narrative.
Would you like me to turn this into a formal research proposal or paper outline with references? Or apply it directly to an actual Xi Jinping speech or propaganda text?