University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Networked governmentality in China: rules, interpretation, and algorithms

Ju, Ran

This item's files can only be accessed by the Administrator group.

Permalink

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

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
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
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2023 Ran Ju

Owning Collections

Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois