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Rumor, Mobile Phone, and Resistance in contemporary China

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Author

  • Jun Liu

Summary, in English

This study examines the characteristics and nature of rumor via mobile communication in contemporary China. By focusing on six concrete case studies with 50+ in-depth interviews, this study observes that mobile phone-mediated rumor has evolved into a special form of popular resistance at the grassroots level. The low-cost and user-friendly mobile device lowers the average protest threshold, creating an unprecedented op-portunity for people, especially those without complicated communication skills, to organize, coordinate, or participate in resistance. The mutual visibility of meta-communication through mobile network greatly increases both credibility of information and sense of security for participation. Additionally, the synchronous mobile communication accumulates rumor dis-course into resistance in a very short time. As a new kind of contentious politics, rumor dissemination via mobile phones show the opposition to government censorship and control of communications, and most im-portant, the resistance against the use of the accusation of “rumor” by authorities to stifle any different voices.

Publishing year

2013

Language

English

Document type

Conference paper

Topic

  • Other Social Sciences

Conference name

Media in Transition 8

Conference date

2013-05-03

Conference place

MIT, United States

Status

Published