Publications & activities

Xue Gong and H. Christoph Steinhardt presented at the workshop”The Politics of Moral Engineering in China.” Presentation title “Surveillance for a More Moral Society: How Moral Framing Shapes Support for State Monitoring in China”

Presentation topic: “Confucian Civic Scaling: Moral Repertoires and Statecraft in East Asia

Presentation topic: “Society in Peril: The Driving Forces and Outcomes of Social Anomie Perception in China.”

The workshop brought together cutting-edge qualitative and quantitative sociological, anthropological and political science research on moral engineering in contemporary China, a process through which the Chinese government seeks to shape citizens’ values and behaviors towards more contributions to the common good, greater social cohesion, and loyalty to the state. Participants were based in Mainland China,… Continue reading H. Christoph Steinhardt organized a workshop on “Moral Engineering in China” together with Carolyn L. Hsu (Colgate University) and Yunxiang Yan (UC Los Angeles)

Alexander Trauth-Goik and H. Christoph Steinhardt presented at the workshop ‘Privacy in China’. Presentation topic: Menacing Society and the Stalwart State: The Privacy Debate on Weibo. The workshop was held : St Antony’s College, Oxford University

Alexander Trauth-Goik presented at the Subnational Governance in China’s “New Era” Workshop at the Institute of international Relations (IIR), National Chengchi University, Taipei

Alexander Trauth-Goik along with co-authors Carolyn Hsu and Jian Lu submitted a conference paper to the Subnational Governance in China’s “New Era” Workshop titled “A Comparison of “Social Credit” Systems Across Rural and Urban China: Rural Points, Civilized Cities, and Financial Creditworthiness

H. Christoph Steinhardt presented at the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen. Presentation title “Society in Peril: The Driving Forces and Outcomes of Social Anomie Perception in China.”

H. Christoph Steinhardt and Xue Gong (together with Jan Delhey) published a peer-reviewed article entitled “Chasing a phantom: a re-evaluation of China’s ‘trust crisis’”.Link to the publication : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21620555.2024.2430265

Presentation title “Trends in Cyber Violence in China and the World” ; Presentation title “Surveillance Capitalism and Data Colonialism” ; Presentation title “Trends in Cyber Violence in China and the World”

Alexander Trauth-Goik published a peer-reviewed paper “Navigating Through The Fog: Reflexive Accounts on Researching China’s Digital Surveillance, Censorship, and Other Sensitive Topics” Link to the publcation : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10670564.2025.2477200

Presentation title: “Protecting Society from Itself: Justifying Social Credit on Chinese Social Media”

Presentation title : “A long, steady river ? The Social Credit System policy process”

Xue Gong presented a paper at the Working Group on Social Scientific China Research Annual Meeting. Presentation title “Disentangling China’s Moral Crisis: Moral Decline or Moral Transformation?”

H. Christoph Steinhardt presented a paper at the Working Group on Social Scientific China Research Annual Meeting. Presentation title: “The Authoritarian Privacy Paradox: Explaining Institutional Privacy Concerns in China’”‘

Alexander Trauth-Goik presented at the Swedish National China Centre. Presentation title: ‘Understanding China’sSocial Credit System Project: Trust, Compliance, and Morality in Modern Governance’

H. Christoph Steinhardt presented on a panel at the European Association of China Studies annual conference. Presentation title: “Chasing a Phantom: The Re-Evaluation of the Chinese ‘Trust Crisis’”‘

Alexander Trauth-Goik presented on a panel at the European Association of China Studies annual conference. Presentation title: ‘Integrity Propaganda and Moral Ascription under China’s Social Credit System Project’

Alexander Trauth-Goik organised a panel for the European Association of China Studies annual conference titled ‘The Politics of the Common Good in China’. The Association’s Conference was held at the University of Talinn.

H. Christoph Steinhardt presented on a panel at the American Political Science Association annual meeting. Presentation title: “The Authoritarian Privacy Paradox: Explaining Institutional Privacy Concerns in China’”‘

H. Christoph Steinhardt gave a guest lecture entitled ‘Chasing a Phantom: A Re-evaluation of China’s ‘Trust Crisis’” at the Institute for Chinese Studies, Free University Berlin.

The project invited Prof. Bin Xu for a guest lecture on “Meanings of Zero: China’s Zero-COVID Policy” at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna. Here is a description of the talk content : https://sinologie.univie.ac.at/veranstaltungen/detailansicht/news/guest-lecture-by-bin-xu-phd/

The project invited Prof. Yunxiang Yan for a guest lecture on “Neo-Familism and the Common Good: Parent Advocacy for Social Inclusion in Urban China” at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna. Here is a description of the lecture’s content : https://sinologie.univie.ac.at/veranstaltungen/detailansicht/news/guest-lecture-by-yan-yunxiang-phd

The project invited Prof. Xin Dai for a guest lecture on “‘Getting Data to Flow’: China’s Law and Political Economy for Data Productivity” at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna. Here is a brief description of the lecture’s content : https://sinologie.univie.ac.at/veranstaltungen/detailansicht/news/guest-lecture-by-xin-dai-jsd/

H. Christoph Steinhardt took part in the roundtable “Shifting conditions and critical issues for ‘a new era of China research’” at Mercator Institute of China Studies, Berlin.

H. Christoph Steinhardt gave a guest lecture entitled ‘Chasing a Phantom: A Re-evaluation of China’s ‘Trust Crisis’” at the School of Government and International Relations, University College Dublin.

The full article can be found on the following link : https://archive.ph/SP28U

Pierre Sel gave a presentation at the French National Institute For Oriental Languages and Civilisations. His talk focused on Social Credit Infrastructures.

Alexander Trauth-Goik was invited to give a guest lecture at Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg. Presentation title: Civilized cities or social credit? Overlap and tension between emergent governance infrastructures in China

Alexander Trauth-Goik presented at the online conference ‘Building the Green, Digital and Inclusive City of the 21st Century’ hosted by the China Bush Foundation and the China Data Analysis and Research Hub. Presentation title: Indicate, Evaluate, Incentivize: Environmental Behavioral Steering in Urban and Rural China

H. Christoph Steinhardt was interviewed by Vienna high school student for a project on Social Credit

Alexander Trauth-Goik presented on his paper “The Eyes of the Masses are Snow Bright”: An Historical Account of Grassroots Surveillance in China, at the ASC annual meeting

Pierre Sel gave an interview with journalist Rachel Cheung from the Wire China on the history of the Social Credit System

Alexander Trauth-Goik gave an interview with journalist Rachel Cheung from the Wire China on the development of the Social Credit System

Alexander Trauth-Goik published a book review: Ariane Ollier-Malaterre – Living with Digital Surveillance in China: Citizens’ Narratives on Technology, Privacy, and Governance.

Pierre Sel’s paper on From Financial Supervision to Morality Construction: Political Narratives of the Social Credit System Policy Process has been accepted for publication in the journal China Review The link is available : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375525731_From_Financial_Supervision_to_Morality_Construction_Political_Narratives_of_the_Social_Credit_System_Policy_Process

H. Christoph Steinhardt (with Sabrina Habich-Sobiegalla) published an op-ed in the German weekly Die Zeit, entitled “Kooperation mit China muss möglich bleiben!” The op-ed is available here : https://archive.ph/nlw7b

H. Christoph Steinhardt gave a talk entitled “外在奖赏还是内生渴望？国家主导志愿服务的参与动机分析” (Extrinsic rewards or intrisic desire? An Analysis of Motivations for State-Led Volunteering) at the Department of Sociology, Shanghai University.

H. Christoph Steinhardt gave a guest lecture entitled “隐私政治与隐私监管” (The politics of privacy and privacy regulation) at the National University of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew School of Government.

Würzburg University, Guest Lecture, Civilized Cities or Social Credit? Overlap & tension between governance infrastructures in China, (3 May 2023)

Alex Trauth Groik published the article “Civilized cities or social credit? Overlap and tension between emergent governance infrastructures in China” in a speical issue of Global Media & China. Below is the abstract, link can be found at : https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20594364231163444 Abstract Foreign imaginaries of surveillance and informatization in China are commonly connected to notions of… Continue reading Publication in Global Media & China

The presentation is entitled “Mobilizing Social Anomie to Strengthen the State: The Social Credit System and China’s Struggle for Social Order ” A link for the talk is available here

H. Christoph Steinhardt and Christian Göbel presented their co-authored study “Mobilizing Social Anomie to Strengthen the State: Justification Strategies for ‘Social Credit’ on Sina Weibo” at the “Automated Decision-Making and Chinese Societies” Conference Melbourne University

Alexander Trauth-Goik presented the conference paper entitled “A Qualitative Analysis of Citizen Interpretations and Engagements with State, Commercial and Peer-to-Peer Forms of Surveillance in China”. This co-authored study investigates citizen attitudes and engagements with state, commercial and, peer-to-peer surveillance in China.

H. Christoph Steinhardt and Lukas Holzschuh (together with collaboration Andrew W. MacDonald, Duke University Kunshan) published the paper “Dreading big brother or dreading big profit? Privacy concerns toward the state and companies in China.” H. Christoph Steinhardt and Lukas Holzschuh (together with collaboration Andrew W. MacDonald, Duke University Kunshan) published the paper “Dreading big brother… Continue reading Publication in First Monday

Alexander Trauth-Goik was a commenter for paper title: Legal and Discursive Dynamics of Personalized “Pillars of Shame” in Chinese Data Governance,

Presentation of conference paper entitled “Mobilizing Social Anomie to Strengthen the State: Justification Strategies for ‘Social Credit’ on Sina Weibo” at annual meeting of the ASC. H. Christoph Steinhardt and Christian Göbel presented their co-authored study “Mobilizing Social Anomie to Strengthen the State: Justification Strategies for ‘Social Credit’ on Sina Weibo” at the German Association… Continue reading H. Christoph Steinhardt presentation for annual meeting of ASC

Alexander Trauth-Goik participated to the online seminar from the University of Oslo, titled : Data Logics: China at the Intersection of Digitalization and Green Transition, presentation title: Political Task Meets Promotional Incentive: The Impact of the National Civilized City Award on Local Environmental Governance in China

Alexander Trauth-Goik (together with collaborator Chuncheng Liu) published the paper “Black or Fifty Shades of Grey? The Power and Limits of the Social Credit Blacklist System in China” Punishment from the state can rely on formal state apparatuses, but also the mobilization and co-option of the deviant’s own social connections to enhance the power of… Continue reading Publication in Journal of Contemporary China

H. Christoph Steinhardt gave an interview on the Social Credit System in the program “Dimensionen” on Austrian public radio Oe1. The interview can be found by click here

“Mobilizing Social Anomie to Strengthen the State: Justification Strategies for ‘Social Credit’ on Sina Weibo” H. Christoph Steinhardt gave a talk on his co-authored study “Mobilizing Social Anomie to Strengthen the State: Justification Strategies for ‘Social Credit’ on Sina Weibo” at the Department of Government and Public Administration, University of Macau.

H. Christoph Steinhardt gave a talk on “Studying Social Media Discourse on the Chinese Social Credit System” at the Department of Sociology, University of Lisbon.