Rhetorical Forms of Symbolic Labor: The Evolution of Iconic Representations in China’s Model Worker Awards

Rhetoric & Public Affairs Mar 2012

Rhetorical Forms of Symbolic Labor: The Evolution of Iconic Representations in China’s Model Worker Awards

Rya Butterfield

Abstract

Abstract As the steadily expanding cyberpublic presents both obstacles and opportunities for Communist Party rule in China, the party has responded by adapting the rhetorical strategies of the Model Worker (MW) commendations to a changing political environment Using role model representations to encourage particular kinds of citizen labor, the system has changed from Maoist single-lane authoritarianism to a multilane interaction between the public and the party. This essay investigates the epideicticfunction, adaptation, and modification of MW awards via Kenneth Burkes symbolic labor. Tracing the awards through the periods of leadership from Mao Zedong to Deng Xiaoping to Hu Jintao, I explore how the structure of the MW program has evolved into a rhetorical strategy capable of stabilizing party power through the moralization of party initiatives and the promulgation of party ideals despite increases in new media forms and institutions.

Journal: Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Published: 2012-03-01
DOI: 10.2307/41955608
Open Access: Closed
Topics: rhetorical theory multimodality