A Study on Chinese Common Prosperity Policy Discourse : 2-mode Network Analysis and Core-periphery Analysis Approach

(Purpose) This study aims to analyze the discourse surrounding China's Common Prosperity policy, with a focus on identifying the key actors, their roles, and the main keywords driving the discourse. The research seeks to understand the political, economic, and social implications of the policy and how it is being implemented at both central and local levels. (Design/methodology/approach) The study employs a data-driven approach, collecting discourse data related to China's Common Prosperity from online channels such as Baidu, CNKI, and People's Daily. The data spans from 2001 to May 2024. Using Python algorithms for web scraping, the data was processed by removing duplicates and stopwords, followed by morphological analysis and POS tagging to classify nouns and adjectives. The research follows a three-step procedure: deriving centrality and extracting the top 200 words, constructing a 2-mode matrix based on co-occurrence, and performing network analysis and core-periphery analysis to identify the structural relationships between actors and keywords. (Findings) The network analysis revealed that the Communist Party holds the most significant position in the Common Prosperity discourse, followed by government agencies, local governments, and enterprises. Core-periphery analysis highlighted the role of local governments as crucial implementers of the policy, with a strong connection to keywords such as “livelihood,” “policy,” and “middle class cultivation.” Key keywords identified in the discourse included “great progress,” “industry,” “new era,” “consumption,” “economy,” and “high-quality development.” These findings suggest that China's Common Prosperity policy is being pursued through modern and innovative methods, with a focus on economic efficiency, social fairness, and reducing income disparities. (Research implications or Originality) This study contributes to the understanding of the structural characteristics of China's Common Prosperity policy discourse, emphasizing the coordinated efforts of central and local governments, the role of enterprises, and the integration of economic and social goals. The research provides important data for analyzing the influence of the Communist Party in policy-making and highlights the need for tailored regional policies. Additionally, it promotes further academic discussion on how technological innovation and sustainable development are integrated into social policies, offering a comparative perspective with advanced Northern European welfare states. Future research should enhance the reliability of data sources and utilize a broader variety of channels to deepen the analysis.