Probing the Political-Economic and Social Dimensions of Present Information Technology Development in Mainland China

• In Event: The Invisible Aspects of Digital Infrastructure

Abstract

This paper aims to better grapple with the political-economic and social dimensions of the recent and continued development of information technologies (with a particular focus on artificial intelligence and “big data”) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It does this by way of presenting findings from interviews with managers and developers at a diverse array of Beijing-area companies working in the information technology sector. On the basis of these interviews, my paper suggests elements of how professionals working in the tech sector of the PRC perceive: 1. The broader significance of these technologies in China and on the global stage; 2. The possible risks (e.g. to individual privacy and informational security) inherent in the implementation of these and related technologies; 3. Their products and their products’ development in relation to public authorities. Through studying the perceptions of key actors in the current development of these technologies, my paper contributes to a keener sense of the directions and stakes of these technologies in China today, especially with respect to how these technologies may relate to the state. Further, because of its particular theoretical and methodological starting place, my study also offers an example through which to think critically about how human scientists might grapple with the social, political and economic interrelations of presently emergent technologies beyond the single case in question.

Author

• Michael Unger Kowen, UC Berkeley Department of Sociology