The People’s Algorithms: Social Credits and the Rise of China’s Big (Br)other

Abstract

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Chinese intellectuals and political leaders dreamed of a modern nation inhabited by politically aware citizens. For them, this involved the production and circulation of social facts enabling citizens to make sound judgements. This theory of making citizens continued in the socialist era (1949–1978). Yet, it has changed profoundly with the advance of state-guided neoliberalism. Instead of creating enlightened citizens, the new paradigm of governance aims at producing an ecology in which citizens are expected to align their desires and aspirations with the state-sanctioned social order. Focusing on China’s emerging social credit system, this essay illustrates how central planning and neoliberal belief have come together to construct a new social and economic order using numbers, algorithms and credit rating.