This article examines how new types of performance appraisal reconfigure everyday personal relationships at work. These systems deploy smartphone technologies to be used continuously by individuals ...to rate each other. Our aim is to show, in concrete terms, how these practices claim to configure a democratic space where individuals are liberated to express their views about each other's work. On the contrary, we argue that by being placed in continuous confrontation with each other's ratings, the genuine space for democratic contestation, for the establishment of a genuine community, as well as for critique and dissent is—paradoxically—narrowed down. The first section of this article explores the context in which managerialism has become consolidated at the centre of neo-liberal politics in a dialogue with some of Mouffe's and Rancière's arguments. We use Rancière's concept of "policing" to understand how managerial techniques subvert genuine democratic spaces, modes of participation and expression. Using performance appraisal systems as an example, the second part of the article provides a critical investigation which shows how managerialism intervenes at the very roots of possible democratic engagement and undermines dissent in subtle ways.
Chinese social media and big data represent an important share of the global Internet, but have received relatively less attention. This editorial examines three dominant discourses based on China's ...distinctive and complex political, economic and social realities: “Big Data” (technical focus), “Big Brother” (political focus), and “Big Profit” (economic focus). We argue that the prevailing discourse and practice of big data in China is largely technocentric, decontextualized and nonreflexive, and much less attuned to the social, political, cultural, epistemological, and ethical implications of big data that a humancentric approach would demand. Second, the authoritarian Chinese state poses incredible political challenges to big data research and practice. Third, the practice of Chinese social media and big data is imbued with a discourse of technological nationalism, driven by a handful of monopolistic “national champions.” Despite contention, the state and market players have formed a largely mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship to maximize their political and economic gains. We argue a comparative perspective to foster a global conversation on social media and big data is necessary in order to formulate collective responses to such challenges.
抽象
中国社交媒体和大数据在全球互联网中占据了重要部分, 但其受到的关注却相对较少。本篇社论考察了三大主导话语, 这三者基于中国独特而又复杂的政治现实、经济现实和社会现实。它们分别是: “大数据”(技术焦点)、“老大哥”(政治焦点)、“大利润”(经济焦点)。笔者主张, 中国大数据的普遍话语和实践在很大程度上都是以技术为中心、去语境化、不具备反思性 在很大程度上它的社会、政治、文化、认识论和道德标准与以人为本的大数据视角相违背。其次, 实行威权主义的中国对大数据研究和实践产生了极大的政治挑战。中国社交媒体和大数据实践充满了一种技术民族主义话语, 这一话语为少数实行垄断的“国家龙头企业”驱动。国家参与者和市场参与者虽然有时利益相左但它们已形成了一种互利共生的关系, 从而取得政治利益和经济利益最大化。笔者主张, 需要以一种比较的视角来促进全球在社交媒体和大数据上的交流, 从而对上述挑战形成集体响应。
Resumen
Las redes sociales chinas y los grandes datos representan una parte importante de Internet global, pero han recibido relativamente menos atención. Este editorial examina tres discursos dominantes basados en las realidades políticas, económicas y sociales distintivas y complejas de China: “Big Data” (enfoque técnico), “Big Brother” (enfoque político) y “Big Profit” (enfoque económico). Argumentamos que el discurso y la práctica predominantes del Big Data en China es en gran medida tecnocéntrico, descontextualizado y no reflexivo, y mucho menos acorde con las implicaciones sociales, políticas, culturales, epistemológicas y éticas del Big Data que un ser humano −el enfoque céntrico exigiría. En segundo lugar, el estado autoritario chino plantea desafíos políticos increíbles para la investigación y la práctica de Big Data. Tercero, la práctica de las redes sociales chinas y Big Data está imbuida de un discurso de nacionalismo tecnológico, impulsado por un puñado de “campeones nacionales” monopólicos. A pesar de la discordancia ocasional, los actores estatales y de mercado han formado una relación simbiótica mutuamente beneficiosa para maximizar sus ganancias políticas y económicas. Nosotros, que sostenemos una perspectiva comparativa para fomentar una conversación global en las redes sociales y el Big Data, es necesario para formular respuestas colectivas a tales desafíos.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The article shows the evolution of the theoretical understanding of the “monitoring revolution”, including the difference between the ideas of “post-capitalism” as the aestheticization and ...fascization of reality, heterotopia and divid (F. Jameson, J. Deleuze, F. Guattari), as well as the ideas of “cognitive capitalism” and modern concepts of “platform capitalism” (N. Srnicek, G. Lovink), “communicative capitalism” (S. Zizek, etc.). The article shows the fundamental differences between the monitoring model of the new digital society and the old Panopticon, primarily related to the formation of local and closed communities, the complexity of interaction between online and offline behavior and its assessments, the possibility of correcting the algorithm due to rapid changes in behavior patterns, as well as the ability of a person to “interact” consciously with the data collection and processing system for their own purposes. Two directions of digital monitoring are identified – “non-soft” and “soft” coer cion. In the first case, we are talking about the actual data collection and rewards for “doing the right things”, as in the version of the Chinese social credit system. The second is about creating a reality in which an individual can only act in a “set” way. It is emphasized that, contrary to forecasts, these systems do not develop along the path of “virtualization” of reality, which implies a conscious, though predetermined choice, but along the path of influencing the brain, bypassing the symbolic. Based on the analysis, the main directions of possible public control of monitoring procedures are identified. These are, first, the problems of “localization” of platforms (territorial and other “binding” of them) and the development of the concept of “citizen as user”; second, the differentiation of data classes to establish responsibility.
The Chinese social credit system (SCS) is a digital sociotechnical credit system that rewards and sanctions the economic and social behaviors of individuals and companies. This article uses classic ...social-control theories—the shaming theory and the labeling theory—to analyze the SCS, thereby contributing to a better understanding of the Chinese social-control approach to the digital transformation of society. Our research relies not only on government documents and media reports, but also on first-hand data collected from in-depth interviews conducted in China. We found that the perceived effectiveness of the shaming and labeling mechanisms is enhanced by the design of the SCS framework and the assistance of digital technology but weakened by a lack of transparency and questionable justification criteria, as well as privacy and fairness concerns.
In this paper, I theoretically examine the concept of quantified credibility in sociology. I argue that quantified credibility has components of status, reputation, and trust, which are arbitrations ...of rankings of individuals, public and private institutions to determine their trustworthiness, legitimacy, and access to resources. To illustrate the above, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of China’s Social Credit System (SOCS), as it is developing into one of the largest and comprehensive data systems in the world.
This article analyzes evolving urban governance in contemporary China, highlighting contradictory outcomes originating from the coexistence of the technologies of pervasive control, socialist ...legacies of urban entitlements, and neoliberal strategies of self-government. Based on fieldwork among low-income migrant workers in a village located on Beijing's outskirts, I investigate how the grassroots administrative practices justified the continuing privileges of local residents and discrimination against newcomers, while the evolving governance projects a better future for every individual who is willing to exert themselves. The 2014 implementation of a Social Credit System was critical for this political agenda. It offered rewards and imposed punishments corresponding to the level of reliability indicated by credit scores, thereby urging migrants to “responsibly” manage their lives. The combination of high-tech surveillance and social credit demonstrates that the notion of “market socialism”, combined with neoliberal practices, has created a new system of social control in 21st-century China.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The Social Credit System (SCS) is on the verge of becoming a new regulatory reality. The CCP is changing its governance tools by combining social management and big data. This article provides an ...overview on the possible impact of the SCS on corporations (CSCS) and analyses its potential extraterritorial effects. The role of transnational law (TL) as a political project is discussed and TL is thus a subject of this paper. Yet, concepts of TL are also used methodologically, as an analytical framework, to make subtle extraterritorial effect and potential legal change visible. The paper places the CSCS in the centre of the analysis and considers technological development, a changing geopolitical landscape, economic interdependence and the behaviour of individuals. The CSCS is an emerging example of the strategic and flexible norm diffusion of powerful states-which underlines the importance of TL as a problem orientated and border-transcending analytical framework.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, PRFLJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
This article focuses on data workers in Shenzhen, who, since 2013, have been recruited to fill positions in the city's Weaving the Net program (zhiwang gongcheng, 織網工程). The program, furthering both ...the expansion of city gridding management techniques and local experiments with China's Social Credit system, is designed to generate a daily set of data to inform the city's "Smart Brain", and is a core way of managing the city's "floating population". In this article, we approach the grid management of Shenzhen and its connection with histories of Chinese social control through data workers themselves. We argue that data workers expand our understanding both the integration of human-technological assemblages into smart city initiatives and the labor of data generation for programs of state social control. Extending STS approaches to smart city infrastructure, we use the figure of the data worker to the present both familiar and distinctive characteristics of Chinese Smart City initiatives.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM
The advent of the Information Revolution is challenging ethicists and policymakers alike to confront the difficulties caused by the societal integration of technology policy. As a technological giant ...operating under its own distinct governing ideology, the ramifications of China’s digital policies and use of surveillance tools are subject to great scrutiny. In its advertised pursuit of long-term stability, the Chinese government looks not just to the future but also to the past, building upon Confucian notions of harmony, legitimacy, and social hierarchy to inform contemporary technology applications and foster acceptance towards them. China is not the only Confucian-influenced society, and the counterfactuals provided by Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore demonstrate Confucianism, as a cultural values system does not institute unanimous approaches to digital governance. Thus, rather than explicitly precipitating modern digital policy, we argue Confucianism instead guides and informs the implementation and justification of the current system of digital governance in a politico-cultural continuum. To demonstrate the intersectionality between Confucianism as a cultural values system and the Chinese Communist Party as an authoritarian governance system, we present the Cybersecurity Law and Social Credit System as exemplar digital tools applied by the Chinese government to efficiently maintain stability and control by establishing a unique contract with citizens regarding their right to privacy. The ethicality of China’s digital governance strategy relies critically on the ethical notions posed by a Confucian philosophical system. Viewing technology policy through a politico-cultural lens informs an understanding as to why the ethics of China’s digital endeavors, which may present a conundrum beyond its borders, find justification within them.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, ODKLJ, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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