A Brief Prehistory of China’s Social Credit System

Jiang, M., A brief prehistory of China’s Social Credit System. Communication & the Public, Forthcoming

8 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2020

See all articles by Min Jiang

Min Jiang

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte

Date Written: July 15, 2020

Abstract

This article situates China’s social credit system (SCS) in a historical perspective by exploring its antecedents. The historical roots of the SCS can be found in the personnel archives of officials during imperial times, the Dang’an (personnel dossier) system under Communist rule, and the failed legislative proposal to establish “morality files” on Chinese citizens in the early 2010s. By recognizing their historical continuity and disjuncture, the article places the SCS in its unique temporal socio-cultural contexts and provides alternative narratives to the current dominant framing of the SCS.

Keywords: Social Credit System, Dang’an, Morality Files, Dossier, Personal Data, Digital Governance, Media History

Suggested Citation

Jiang, Min, A Brief Prehistory of China’s Social Credit System (July 15, 2020). Jiang, M., A brief prehistory of China’s Social Credit System. Communication & the Public, Forthcoming , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3652192 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3652192

Min Jiang (Contact Author)

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte ( email )

9201 University City Boulevard
Charlotte, NC 28223
United States

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