Yuying Wang, Communication University of China.
Reading guide] Following the "officialdom ** fever" and "palace fighting drama fever", in recent years, there have been a lot of content on the Internet with "power conspiracy culture" as the background, which is filled with power worship, crowding out plots, gangs, opportunistic and other thinking. The spread of the "conspiracy culture" has attracted the attention of some young people, some of whom are fascinated by analysis and explanation of "officialdom dramas" and "business war dramas", and study the philosophy of life, and some young people even pay for "promotion secrets" on the Q&A platform. However, what exactly is a conspiracy culture?Are contemporary youth keen on the culture of power schemes?This paper uses a combination of in-depth interviews and case studies to understand the "power conspiracy culture" among contemporary youth
The author points out that through the popularity of "power conspiracy culture", it is necessary to calmly analyze the mentality and objective needs of young people reflected behind it. In the in-depth interviews, the young people in this paper still showed the characteristics of dialectic, rationality, and optimism, and most of them had strong discernment, and did not self-strengthen their personality of power and strategy, but sought more professional help and were able to analyze specific problems. They will criticize those who have impure business ability and motives, and they will also worry that they will compromise later because of "unwillingness" and "live a very annoying kind of person that they don't want to become," and they will consciously reflect on and criticize the "power conspiracy culture." Young people are sensitive, and their criticism, apprehension and reflection reflect that the road to eliminating the negative effects of the "power culture" is not smooth and that there are still many challenges
This article was originally published in the 16th issue of People's Forum in 2023, and was originally titled "Why Some Young People Are Keen on "Power Seeking Culture": An Analysis and Research Based on In-depth Interviews".
Why some young people are keen on the "power and conspiracy culture".
An analysis based on in-depth interviews
"Cooperate with people who have resources, and work with people who have no way out" "There is no good or bad in the eyes of the strategist, only strength and weakness"....At present, there are many articles on the online platform with "power plot culture" and thick black science as the main content of the data Analysis of film and television works, transmission of power worship, opportunism, cliques and other feudal ideas The spread of "power plot culture" on the Internet has attracted the attention of some young people, and some young people are keen to analyze and explain the "officialdom drama" and "business war drama" on the short **platform**, study the so-called philosophy of life, and some young people even pay for "promotion secrets" on the Q&A platform This article focuses on how young people view the "power plot culture" What kind of confusion and expectations are there, using a research method combining in-depth interviews and case analysis, ** contemporary youth's understanding and understanding of the "power conspiracy culture".
** content about human nature, scheming, emotional intelligence, relationships, etc., is now quite popular on the Internet).
"Electronic mustard" and "electronic opium".
Many young people refer to the audio they listen to in the process of eating as "electronic mustard", which not only affirms the "cooking function" of these cultural products, but also shows the fact that they do not have much nutrition But if the impact of such works is underestimated because of this, it will ignore its potential threat The so-called "conspiracy culture" with a long history has appeared repeatedly in the ** online drama as an "electronic mustard" in recent years, and it will indeed have a certain negative impact From a subconscious level, although the viewer " It's just that it's boring to eat at noon", but this kind of "electronic mustard" will indeed cause subtle harm to young people, because fundamentally speaking, the "conspiracy culture" is contrary to modern democratic politics, and the compromise and acceptance of the "conspiracy culture" often means the acquiescence to the unspoken rules and the neglect of procedural justice
Ancient court dramas have become a model for people to delve into the "culture of power schemes").
Compared with "electronic mustard", a more complex phenomenon is the production of "electronic opium" When young people encounter difficulties in reality, some people will choose to watch cool dramas Read cool articles to dissipate and dispel negative emotions, and some interviewed young people said: "It is inevitable that there will be depression in the workplace, and watching these relatively cool palace fighting dramas is a kind of emotional catharsis." When young people encounter difficulties in their work, they regard the people in the play as themselves, watch their joys and sorrows, empathize, and feel that it is a kind of release, which can dissolve some negative emotions in their work", "It is a kind of electronic opium".
It should be noted that, on the one hand, some young people choose such works to relieve their emotions, which actually shows a certain identification with such works;On the other hand, the reason why this kind of work is called "electronic opium" can also show that young people have valuable critical ability In the in-depth interview, some interviewed young people believe that "in the cultural environment that has been precipitated for thousands of years, not everyone can easily escape"."If we rely only on 'truth, goodness and beauty', we may not be able to cope with the complexity of society sometimes", it seems that some young people have acquiesced or accepted the logic of "power and conspiracy culture".But this is only one side of the coin, and they talk more about it—that is, the other side of the coin—which is an examination and reflection on the environment of the medium, the platform, the work
* TV drama Internet social network** has made many young people pay attention to the so-called "conspiracy culture", and the media provides the soil for the dissemination of "conspiracy culture" Some young people will carefully analyze the palace fighting drama, believing that there are both typical works that depict and spread the "conspiracy culture", as well as works that are implicitly admired, but there is also a kind of work that actually uses the form of conspiracy to express the proposition of anti-conspiracy"It's full of conspiracy, but when you read it, you will feel a kind of sadness, and after you count the past, it still can't change anything, in fact, it makes me not want to engage in conspiracy, because I find that after a lot of work, in fact, the reality is still like this."They also clearly see that many cultural works are based on the principle of "truth, goodness and beauty".
Young people's analysis of media objects shows a high level of media literacy, so that they not only have a basic ability to distinguish the "power culture" hidden in individual works, but also have a stronger ability to act They believe that the reality of such works is very limited and cannot be implemented, although it seems to provide solutions to some workplace problems, but "if I want to use it practically, I may be more inclined to learn management knowledge", and emphasize that "it depends more on ability" in the work They generally mentioned the importance of practice, believing that to master the way of doing things, "on the one hand, it is necessary to read more classic books and form some of your own understanding and opinions;On the other hand, it is necessary to communicate with others, have a practical environment, and measure and consider the practical problems encountered by oneself."In the face of the influence of the external "conspiracy culture", most young people do not self-strengthen their personality of conspiracy, but seek more professional help and be able to analyze specific problems in detail
Young people's understanding of "power schemes" is dialectical
On August 12, 1835, the 17-year-old Marx wrote in the article "Considerations of Youth in Choosing a Profession":"There is only such a profession that gives dignity to man, in which we do not act as slave-like tools, but create independently within our own field;This profession does not require unseemly action (even if it is only superficially unseemly), and even the best people will engage in it with great pride ".
Young Marx emphasized "dignity", "creativity", "sublimity" and "pride" when thinking about career choices In the West, power is a controversial concept, and the American sociologist Dennis Lang has conducted a systematic study of power, and in his book "The Theory of Power", he analyzes power from the perspective of motivation and purpose, and uses two variables to form four positions, showing the complexity of the perception of power
Similarly, the evaluation of power and conspiracy in the history of the development of Chinese civilization is also complex, and the affirmation of its positive role is not only ancient, even today, "The Art of War" and "Zizhi Tongjian" are still important cultural carriers for people to learn the rules of life and workplace, and even the skills of "business warfare".
When talking about the "conspiracy culture", they will generally start from the purpose of using the means of conspiracy, and some young people interviewed: "If you think about power from the perspective of personal interests, for example, in order to satisfy your desire for control, or only from your own interests, I think this may be a very derogatory word, but if you consider collective interests, such as the interests of units, departments, and countries, it is a positive word." In fact, the biggest purpose is to serve the people, for example, to better promote the economic development of one party."
Contemporary Youth Can Clearly Distinguish Between Leadership Art and Leadership Art Leadership art is a method in which leaders solve problems with flexible and innovative thinking, using certain leadership conditions, leadership principles, and leadership methods, and coordinating relationships, reflecting the comprehensive qualities of leaders in terms of knowledge, experience, talent, and temperament
The young people interviewed gave a positive evaluation of the use of power and strategy to achieve the goal of achieving the public interest, believing that leadership needs "methods", "skills" and "strategies" to unite "everyone", and "a high degree of unity of thought" can help achieve more ambitious goals
This positive evaluation of the conspiracy is related to the obvious improvement of the workplace atmosphere, and many young people in the interview affirmed their working environment: "I think the internal environment of the central enterprise is still good, I really don't feel that there is any very deep uneven distribution of resources, and everyone's sense of teamwork is still quite strong", "the leaders are quite kind, and they are not very good at forming small circles".
In analyzing the reasons for the formation of the above-mentioned workplace atmosphere, the factor of younger cadres has been repeatedly mentioned: "Some relatively young cadres in the department have a high overall quality, and young people may have more creative ideas" and "their management thinking is relatively advanced." They want to keep up with the times, and their mentality is, first and foremost, inclusive and open".
A young team leader came out to describe the mindset of being a young leader:"I entered the workplace with the intention of treating people with sincerity and doing my own thing. I don't think much about giving gifts, or thinking about leadership psychology every day, I prefer to talk with work or strength."
From this point of view, young people, including young cadres, pay more attention to the improvement of personal ability and the work style focused on completing work tasks, but this does not mean that they do not feel the negative impact of power and scheming on the workplace The non-institutional, de-valued, non-public, and self-interested aspects of the "power and conspiracy culture" are not unfamiliar to young peopleThey will criticize those who have impure professional abilities and motives, and they will also worry that they will compromise later because of "unwillingness in their hearts" and "live a very annoying kind of person that they don't want to become." They will also consciously reflect on and criticize the "conspiracy culture" Young people are keen, and their criticism, worry, and reflection reflect that although the "conspiracy culture" has positive values, the road to eliminating the negative impact of the "conspiracy culture" is not smooth, and there are still many challenges
The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that "the phenomenon of formalism and bureaucracy is still quite prominent" and that "the task of eradicating the breeding ground for corruption is still arduous."Young people are in the formative period of work ethics, and it is very easy to have cognitive biases about the "power strategy" culture, and even develop a high power strategy personalityAccording to research, the psychological mechanisms common to human beings, such as achievement motivation, communication and belonging motivation, and power motivation, will have a direct impact on this If the soil of "power strategy" is relatively developed, some young people will form a stable and high-power personality through interpersonal interaction and social and cultural environment in the process of socialization In this process, the cultural products that young people are exposed to in their spare time have a great impact on them
Behind the "conspiracy culture" that some young people are keen on
At the same time, we must also calmly analyze the youth mentality and objective needs reflected by the phenomenon of some young people who are keen on the "power plot culture" Young people who go out of school and become "workplace novices" have an urgent desire to quickly integrate into the workplace, and some young people in the workplace will have an anxious and hesitant mentality, and some young people in the workplace are encountering setbacks and bottlenecks, and want to find spiritual sustenance in the so-called "power and conspiracy culture", hoping to grow faster by understanding the "unspoken rules".
In the interviews, the young people's stories also showed the confusion and confusion arising from this: "I am very confused, how to provide more opportunities for young people, and use more measures to ensure fair competition" In the individual situation where the "power and conspiracy culture" is highly developed, some young people tend to set self-limits and take the initiative to alienate, and young people are more likely to be at a loss and thus self-isolated." From the perspective of young people, many people are now a little self-ego or autistic, and everyone may have to develop inward, basically dealing less if they can deal less, and not bothering others if they can do it themselves."
The young people interviewed showed a healthy view of power When encountering interpersonal friction in the workplace, young people usually consciously use some methods from the perspective of being responsible for their work, such as temporarily suppressing their inner dissatisfaction and adopting an evasive way to calm the dispute - "If I just pick and stop because of some minor problems, it may be an irresponsible behavior".
This seems to be a strategic means, but in fact, the sense of teamwork and responsibility makes them let go of the battle of wills Young people with certain management experience attach great importance to the relationship between superiors and subordinates in the workplace, and will use "Chinese-style, Western-style, means and methods" to "establish good personal feelings", "sincerely want to have a good personal relationship", and at the same time gain the trust of their superiors, "take care of their subordinates and drive them to work better" In this process, although they also mentioned the power technique, it is more from history Leadership Theory Organizational Behavior Human Resource Management is inspired
The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out: "The whole party should grasp youth work as a strategic work", "be a confidant of young friends, an enthusiast for youth work, and a guide for young people." On the basis of discussion, we can further achieve the unity of purpose and law, the unity of loftiness and wisdom, and the unity of ideal and reality in practice
This article was originally published in People's Tribune, Issue 16, 2023, with the original title "Why Some Young People Are Keen on 'Power Seeking Culture': An Analysis and Research Based on In-depth Interviews". Readers are welcome to share, **Please contact the copyright owner.