Rhetoric in elite-led radical change: China's capitalist transformation from 1978--2008.

摘要

This project investigates China's capitalist transformation from 1978 to 2008. While most studies emphasize structural aspects of China's market-oriented reform, such as economic, political, and cultural structures, this project examines agency of the power elites in legitimating such transformation. Elite agency is conceptualized as rhetorical creativity -- innovative articulation of new realities and rationales, exploiting multiple and potentially conflicting institutional logics to legitimize change. This project focuses on the introduction and development of the Chinese stock market and explores how Chinese leaders have theorized and justified a quintessentially capitalist institution in the name of Marxist and communist ideologies. Specifically, I discuss three rhetorical dimensions of elite-led radical change. First, my analysis shows how Chinese communist leaders use casuistry to stretch the concept of communism to open up space for arguments justifying free-market practices. Second, I demonstrate how Chinese leaders engage in the institutional work of ethos construction in order to maintain credibility and trust with followers. Third, I illustrate how leaders intervene into debates and controversies by managing presumptions, thus influencing the direction and pace of the transition from plan to market.