REVISIT WORKING-CLASS NETWORK SOCIETY: CHINA & THE WORLD

JACK LINCHUAN QIUTHE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

16 NOVEMBER 2016HANGZHOU

A DIGITAL INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Education Attainment of Chinese Internet Users

High school or lower

Bachelor degree

Graduate school

Elementary school or lower

High School

Community college

Bachelor or above

Elementary school or lowerJunior high schoolSenior high school Community college

Bachelor or aboveCommunity collegeBachelor or above

Elementary school or lower

Junior high school

Senior high school

1998 2mil

2003 80mil

2008 320mil

2016 710mil

China’s National Population

THE DISTRIBUTION OF INTERNET RESOURCES (BEIJING, SHANGHAI, GUANGDONG, JIANGSU & ZHEJIANG AS % OF

NATIONAL TOTAL)

20.9% (National Census)

POLITICO-ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF CHINA’S SOCIAL MEDIA INDUSTRY • MAJOR TELECO’S (E.G. CHINA MOBILE, CHINA

TELECOM) HAD BECOME PUBLICLY LISTED IN HONG KONG OR NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE MORE THAN A DECADE AGO

• BAT (BAIDU, ALIBABA, TENCENT) HAS BECOME “THE MOST IMPORTANT EMPOWERMENT CONGLOMERATE AND SAFEGUARDING FORCE IN GOVERNANCE” FOR CHINESE AUTHORITIES

• OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ARE ALL OWNED BY CAPITALIST OLIGOPOLIES, INCREASINGLY MONOPOLIES (E.G., DIDI)

“Asteroids 隕石期” (mid 1990s ~ 2003)

“Bees 蜜蜂期” (2003 ~ 2009)

“Coliseums 競技場期” (2009 ~

now)

Three Phases of China’s Network Society

COMPARING 3 PHASES OF CHINA’S NETWORK SOCIETY

A B CPolitical parallelism L M H

Opinion pluralism M H L

Globality H M L

Efficacy M H L

Civil society development M M.-H. M.-L.

WORKING-CLASS SOCIAL MEDIA IN CHINA:A BRIEF HISTORY

• PHASE I: QQ, QQ CLUSTER, Q ZONE• PHASE II: WEBLOG (E.G., BLOGCHINA), ONLINE FORUM (E.G.,

TIANYA, MOP, BOXUN, WORKERS’ FORUM), INTERNET VIDEO (E.G., 56.COM)

• PHASE III: WEIBO, WECHAT

FOXCONN, 2010~

FINANCIAL TIMES

FOXCONN FACILITIES IN CHINA, 2011

FOXCONN WORLDWIDE

FOXCONN.COM.CN

APPLE SUPPLIERS, 2014

SUPPLYCHAIN257.COM

THE PENETRATION OF DIGITAL MEDIA: THE TEMPORAL DIMENSION

1800: the British Empire (1 million slaves): 2.5 billion hours (R. Blackburn)

2014: Foxconn (1.4 million employees in China):4.8 billion hours

In Facebook, worldwide, in 2014 (1.04 billion daily active users):

652.9 billion hours (261 British Empires or 137 Foxconns)

STEVE CUTTS

“GLOBALLY CONNECTED & LOCALLY DISCONNECTED”?

HONDA LOCKS STRIKE, 2010

OFFICIALS COLLUDE WITH BOSSES, INSURANCE BECOMES OUR LOSSES.WHAT A PITY, WORKERS, OUR YOUTHFUL YEARS JUST A FUSS.STRIKE! STRIKE! THE PEAK OF LABOR MOVEMENT IS

UPON US.

YUE YUAN STRIKE, 2014

WOOHA STRIKE, DECEMBER 2011

360JINJIANGSTRIKE,

2009

WGC: GLOBAL RELEVANCE FROM MARIKANA, SA, TO THE USA

WGC: GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS, INCLUDING COOPS

A TYPOLOGY OF WGC (WORKER-GENERATED CONTENT)

WORKING-CLASS NETWORK SOCIETY, REVISITED• BASIC IDEAS (E.G., INFO HAVE-LESS, EXISTENTIAL NEEDS, NETWORK LABOR)

REMAIN RELEVANT, BUT NO LONGER SUFFICIENT• NEW CHALLENGES SINCE 2009: FACTORY REGIME, TEMPORAL EXPLOITATION,

CRACKDOWNS, APPCONN, ISLAVERY• ON-GOING DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSFORMATION OF CHINA’S NETWORK SOCIETY AND

DIVERSE FORMS OF WORKER RESISTANCE• FEMININE SOLIDARITY• WORKER-HACKER ALLIANCE• WGC AND CULTURAL CHANGE

• CLASS ANTAGONISM BECOMING MORE ACUTE -- ANOTHER OCTOBER REVOLUTION IN CYBERIA SHALL SHAKE CHINA AND THE WORLD

• DON’T LET BAT DICTATE YOUR LIFE. GET ACTIVE, AND GET PREPARED FOR A NEW ERA OF CLASS POLITICS, TOWARD A CLASSLESS SOCIETY

THANK YOU

3 triangular exchange models: Slavery &

antislaveryEurope

West Africa

The Americas

$$, sugar

slaves

$, rum

Apple

Foxconn

ManufacturediSlaves

$$, UGC

$, R&D

gadgets

Network Labor

Working-Class ICTs

Working-Class Public

Spheres

DNA

WGC

cultural capitalsocial innovation