Date of Award
12-1-2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Mass Communication and Media Arts
First Advisor
Han, Dong
Abstract
This dissertation examines the development trajectory of China’s gaming industry in the context of the country’s reform and opening-up and its reintegration into transnational capitalism. It explains how the rise of the industry contributes to the reconfiguration of transnational capitalism. Taking a critical political economy perspective, the study focuses on the power dynamics and development logic within the industry. It identifies three pivotal phases in the industry’s evolution: its transformation into a site of capital accumulation, its rise in the mobile gaming sector, and its overseas expansion. The Chinese state, transnational capital, and the Chinese private sector emerge as the primary forces shaping the evolution. Moreover, this research employs a triangulated research approach, with document analysis as the primary method, supplemented by semi-structured interviews and simple observation. This dissertation argues that the Chinese gaming industry has taken a distinctive development path within the transnational capitalist system. Initially, it accumulated experience, technology, and capital at lower tiers of the global industry hierarchy. It then entered the emerging mobile game market and ascended to prominence. On the one hand, this development has reinforced the existing system by providing new momentum and sites for capital accumulation. On the other hand, it has contributed to the reconfiguration of this system by rebalancing the Western-dominated power structures.
Access
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