SELF-CENSORSHIP AND PANOPTICON: “I HAVE AN IDEA THAT CANNOT PASS THE CENSORSHIP”

Back to Page Authors: Tianxin Yan

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Keywords: self-censorship, China, internet catchphrase, surveillance, panopticon, critical discourse analysis

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Abstract: The study of censorship and surveillance in modern society mostly started from the institutional level, examining the policy adopted by the government and the agenda behind it, while little attention has been given to the perception of and the reaction to censorship among the individuals. The study adopts the Panopticon framework of Michael Foucault to examine the discursive reflection and construction of the (self-)censorship system in mainland China from an individual level. Focusing on the internet catchphrase “an idea that cannot pass the censorship”, the study presents how microbloggers in China use expressions such as “I have an idea that cannot pass the censorship” to express their compliment to someone’s sexual appeal. The qualitative analysis of a microblog posted on Sina Weibo that contains the catchphrase instantiates that the language using of social media users is not only the product but also the instrument of the Panopticon of censorship in Chinese society. As the product, the phrase embodied the internalization of self-discipline and further delineated a mechanism of censorship that was largely supported by the uncertainty and unknowability of regulations, which corroborated the function of unequal gaze in a different way. As the instrument, the circulation of this phrase continues to cultivate and internalize the subconscious of self-discipline within the speaker themselves and fellow participants who are exposed to this discourse, which will eventually facilitate the operation of the Panopticon-like system that is based on the surveillance by knowledge.

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