Abstract
The participatory affordance of web platforms has encouraged ordinary users’ participation in sociopolitical issues and opened up new channels for public opinion expression, particularly to blame authorities for their perceived wrongdoings. The current critical discourse analysis study contributes to this scholarship by investigating bottom-up discursive practices on user-generated texts on Weibo, the most widely used social media website in China. Using Social Media Critical Discourse Studies, we examine how netizens blame the elite group for their money and mask donations during the COVID-19 pandemic. They do this by constructing an identity for the elites as norm-breaching, outliers, and criminals, in contrast to their own norm-monitoring and judicial identity, thereby justifying the blame on the elites. Several discursive practices were identified with varying degrees of rationality and affectivity. Data includes comments presented in both textual and image forms.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 100895 |
Journal | Discourse, Context and Media |
Volume | 66 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug 2025 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2025
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Cultural Studies
- Communication
Keywords
- Blame practices
- Red Cross Foundation
- Social media critical discourse analysis