Paradoxical Framing Logics of Poverty Alleviation in Chinese State Narratives
Four dimensions of the duality are identified. The first is the privatization of welfare provision under the socialist redistributive logic. Although the state discourses emphasize welfare and benefits tilted towards the poor, these distributions are channeled through industrial projects. As a result, the redistributive effects of the TPAC depend not only on state intervention but also on markets. The second is the paternalistic power of the state under the legal-rational logic. While modern bureaucratization is a key focus in official discourses, the kinship-like ties between state agents and the poor, rather than impersonal relations, are the primary approach for policy implementation. Third, neoliberal governmentality operates under the capability-approach logic. State discourses like the feature stories of transitions from “lazy men” to “capable men,” disproportionately emphasize self-motivation and hard work for capability acquisition, but underplay the structural deprivation faced by the marginalized. Fourth, the logic of biopolitics is conflated with the logic of hygienic modernization. The state narratives foreground the state’s disciplinary actions to facilitate individual conceptual transformation of hygiene and public health, including classifying cleanliness and dirty, penetrating domestic spaces, and enforcing physical appearance changes of the poor, like haircuts.
Our findings of the logic duality in state narratives contribute to understanding the operation and social effects of poverty alleviation projects in China. They also show the decoupling between policy and practice inside official discourses under authoritarian regimes.