Fostering Model Citizenship: Behavioral Responses to China’s Emerging Social Credit Systems

Abstract

A variety of social credit systems (SCSs) are being implemented in China in order to steer the behavior of Chinese individuals, businesses, social organizations, and government agencies. The government and industry architects of these SCSs claim that such systems will eventually lead to more honest and law‐abiding behavior, thus improving the quality of life among China’s citizenry. However, very little is known about citizens’ experience with and responses to different types of SCS initiatives. This article helps to address this gap. On the basis of a cross‐regional survey and interviews with SCS participants, we find that a surprisingly high share of respondents changed their behavior at least once, with changes concentrated in a few categories, including changing shopping behavior and following traffic regulations. Citizens who were part of a mandatory government‐run SCS pilot report altered their behavior in more ways than citizens who joined a commercial SCS. Interestingly, behavioral responses are driven mainly by material or symbolic (i.e., social recognition) motivations to influence scores in a positive way, with punitive elements playing less of a role. Finally, we find that SCSs currently reach only specific citizen groups due to variable responsiveness to the incentives provided by commercial and government‐run SCSs.

A Sociological Review of China's Social Credit Systems and Guanxi Opportunities for Social Mobility

“…In addition, socioeconomic backgrounds and class have been associated with different levels of responsiveness towards social credit systems. Kostka and Antoine (2019) found that individuals who are more educated and from a higher class tend to alter their behaviors more significantly in response to social credit system initiatives, as they are more aware of the benefits associated with having a high social credit score. Thus, while conformity has become a form of social stratification, the ability to obtain credibility in order to be perceived as an ideal citizen still relies heavily on membership in social classes and socioeconomic backgrounds.…”

“…According to interviews conducted by Kostka and Antoine (2019), while citizens are worried about privacy issues with companies collecting data for social credit systems, many of them view these systems as positive and necessary (Chan, 2019). By creating a culture of safety, citizens have come to be reliant on social credit systems in their day-to-day lives (Chong, 2019).…”

“…However, Kostka (2019) argues that citizens still stand to gain from being in a trustworthy society. It has been found that some citizens are even recommending the addition of more punitive mechanisms to effect changes across society (Kostka & Antoine, 2019). Thus, the popularity of social credit systems as tools to control and augment morality is evident.…”

“…First tested in 2007, China's numerous social credit systems aim to re-establish trust in a society, where trust is fractured by occurrences of fraud and other problems (Kostka, 2019). These systems, which are extended from consumer credit rating systems, would provide a social credit score for individuals, which symbolizes the level of credibility of individuals, where a credible person is to possess important traits as an ideal citizen such as civic-mindedness, ability to honor commitments, and trustworthiness (Kobie, 2019;Kostka & Antoine, 2019;Liang, Das, Kostyuk, & Hussain, 2018). Here, I refer to the literature on credibility as a quality that arises from the perception of others.…”

Data Co-Operatives through Data Sovereignty

“…Big data-extremely large data sets that may be analysed computationally-originated with the increasingly advanced data collection capabilities of the internet, social networks, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and sensors [22]. However, this AI-driven algorithmic phenomenon has led to new consequences, such as hyper targeting through data analytics, facial recognition, and individual profiling, received by many with both helplessness and threat, resulting in not-so-desirable outcomes, such as massive manipulation and control via the surveillance capitalism push in the US and the Social Credit Systems in China [23].…”