Socialism As Social Imaginary:An Analysis Of The Political Discourse Of Deng Xiaoping's Reform

It is well known from Michel Foucault how different perspectives of looking back into the history can advance our knowledge on seemingly well-known facts and events.Accordingly,this research tends to offer a new understanding of Deng Xiaoping's reform era.The analysis of the initiation of the reform(specially between 1978 and 1982)conducted through a political perspective,using the enhancement of the legitimacy of the Communist Party in China as an objective.The thesis is built on the political discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe,which claims that every social action(textual by nature or not)as far as it aims to create new meanings in the socio-political realm,can be understood as a discourse.The researcher applies discourse analysis on crucial political texts(editorials,speeches)and on political activities(e.g.institutional reforms)of Deng Xiaoping.Discourses,in the Chinese case,contribute to the Party's legitimacy,keep on with the Marxist base,as well as fix a style of political communication,and maintain a Chinese from of Marxist political theory to explain the current reforms.Through the analysis,it has been shown that the described discursive(re)forms are creating hegemonic relations(in the sense of Laclau and Mouffe),thus they serve as the consolidation of the political line of Deng Xiaoping and preserve the continuity of the Party's rule.The economic reform and opening of the Post-Mao era came along with fundamental political restructuring where socialism became a totality instead of the guidance of the revolutionary mobilization,and transcended from the realm of social actions to the social imaginary.