Networked governmentality in China: rules, interpretation, and algorithms

Ju, Ran

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120521 Copy

Description

Title

Networked governmentality in China: rules, interpretation, and algorithms

Author(s)

Ju, Ran

Issue Date

2023-04-21

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Hay, James

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Hay, James

Committee Member(s)

• Christians, Clifford
• McChesney, Robert W.
• Chan, Anita Say

Department of Study

Inst of Communications Rsch

Discipline

Communications and Media

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Governmentality
• Network
• China
• Algorithms
• Policy
• Citizenship
• Enterprising Self
• Platforms

Language

eng

Abstract

This dissertation explores how new networks of governance and citizenship are unfolding in and reshaping the public and private life in China. The concept “networked governmentality,” as developed in this dissertation, refers to an interconnected array of techniques and technologies that contribute to the cultural and institutional guidance and regulation of conduct and life, both in populations and through individual enfranchisement and empowerment in everyday life. Within this study, I consider the historical contradictions of Chinese citizenship in terms of changing forms of networks and networking. This dissertation examines several kinds of networks in China: networks of press, TV, and radio during the late twentieth century through twenty-first-century networks involving a recent digital news media The Paper, large networks of e-finance such as Alipay, and a question-and-answer based social media platform Zhihu. It suggests that the mutual shaping of networked culture and the technological infrastructure – platforms, algorithms, and big data, has entered into a new field where control through civic freedom has been normalized, synergized, and rationalized into everyday practices of communicating, consuming, circulating and knowing.

Graduation Semester

2023-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120521

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 Ran Ju

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