Understanding the Power of China’s National Social Credit System: A Structural/Mechanism Explanation

Philosophy of the Social Sciences 54 (3):203-225 (2024)
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Abstract

As a promising Social Science Methodology, Structural/Mechanism Explanation (SME) retains the advantages of mechanism-based explanation (ME), particularly its focus on “identifying causal patterns from micro-level social phenomena.” It also acknowledging the role of “structure”—seen as “macro-level conditions”—in incentivizing or disincentivizing key mechanisms, thus proving valuable for forecasting their emergence and decline. This article explores the theory of SME and applies it to examine how a revitalized “Legalist political structure coupled with a Confucianist ideological structure” can forecast the mechanisms by which China’s National Social Credit System disciplines and punishes the citizens. This is observed across domains of legislation, administration, judiciary, and propaganda.

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An Analytical Approach to Culture.Omar Lizardo - 2023 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 53 (4):281-302.
Mechanisms and Method.Daniel Little - 2015 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 45 (4-5):462-480.
Explaining large-scale historical change.Daniel Little - 2000 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 30 (1):89-112.

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