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

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

“…According to interviews conducted by Kostka and Antoine (), 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, ). By creating a culture of safety, citizens have come to be reliant on social credit systems in their day‐to‐day lives (Chong, ).…”

“…However, Kostka () 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, ). Thus, the popularity of social credit systems as tools to control and augment morality is evident.…”

“…In addition, socioeconomic backgrounds and class have been associated with different levels of responsiveness towards social credit systems. Kostka and Antoine () 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.…”

“…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, ). 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, ; Kostka & Antoine, ; Liang, Das, Kostyuk, & Hussain, ). Here, I refer to the literature on credibility as a quality that arises from the perception of others.…”

Social Credit System as a New Tool in the Management of Citizens' Behavior: Problems and Prospects

“…SCS is a large-scale project with a long-term perspective. SCS is a giant infrastructure of state supervision for effective management, monitoring and forecasting, which controls not only citizens, but also organizations, companies and government agencies based on big data [4]. The system covers all areas, from financial loans, food safety to environmental safety [5,6].…”