Formulating the discourse of pro-work conservatism: a critical discourse analysis of Weibo posts in response to the implementation of the three-child policy

ABSTRACT

Although the ideology of pro-work conservatism prevails in East Asia, scholars have largely overlooked its discursive construction in media communication from a linguistic perspective. This paper examines the discursive construction of pro-work conservatism in 3,000 Weibo posts with the most “likes” in response to China’s implementation of the three-child policy. Using the sociosemantic approach as an analytic framework, the paper finds that three dominant themes underpin the discourse of pro-work conservatism: women’s sacrifice in the labour market, the high cost of raising children, and gender-essentialist norms. This discourse is articulated in the posts via a number of discursive strategies, including authorization, morality, and rationalisation. This paper sheds light on the influence of the one-child policy and the awakening of feminist consciousness in the new era and highlights the implications of language use in shaping gender-role ideologies to influence public perception.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical discourse analysis
• pro-work conservatism
• sociosemantic approach
• three-child policy
• Weibo

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their very constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper, Dr Felicia F. Tian for her valuable insight, and the research crew for collecting the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For two millennia, Confucianism had been used to maintain harmony, social order, and the dominance of State bureaucracy, and neo-Confucianism reproduces these patriarchal power relations in the post-Mao era.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yating Yu

Yating Yu is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a member of the Research Centre for Professional Communication in English (RCPCE). Her research interests are in gender studies, corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, and metaphor studies. She has previously published in SSCI-indexed journals such as Social Semiotics, Gender and Language, and Asian Studies Review.

Tayden Fung Chan

Tayden Fung CHAN is a Core Centre Fellow in the Institute of Policy Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong. He obtained his PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research primarily focuses on the Hong Kong Studies and Chinese public administration. His publications appear on various academic journals including but not limited to Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, East Asia, and China: An International Journal.

Qiongyao Huang

Qiongyao HUANG is a teaching staff in the department of public relations at Nanchang University in China. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication from Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research focuses on communication and social networks, strategic organizational communication and public relations. Huang’s research has been published in SSCI-indexed journals, and as book chapters. She has won multiple top paper awards at major communication conferences.