Zoom webinar registration at: https://myumi.ch/DJW8G

This talk examines citizen scoring in and public support for China’s Social Credit System (SCS). In the first study, Dr. Fan analyzed the mechanism of credit scoring embedded in the SCS and show two facets of the SCS: a normative apparatus fostering “good” citizens and a regulative apparatus normalizing “deviant” behaviors. In the second study, he used a survey experiment to test how different types of monitored behaviors (financial versus non-financial behaviors) and media framing (Chinese media versus Western media) explain public support for the SCS. The findings suggest that when exposed to western media framing, Chinese citizens’ support decreases, but only when they are told that the SCS monitors citizens’ social behavior. In conclusion, he argues that the SCS illustrates the significant shift in which state actors increasingly become data processors whereas citizens are reconfigured as data subjects that can be measured and compared.

Fan Liang (PhD, University of Michigan) is an Assistant Professor of Media in the Division of Social Sciences at Duke Kunshan University. His research examines how new communication technologies construct social and political changes. His research has received recognition and support from the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, American Council of Learned Societies, Volkswagen Foundation, International Communication Association, and other organizations.