Neither “Platformization” Nor “Infrastructuralization”: Government as a Platform in China
Critically engaging with the prevalent theses of “platformization” and “infrastructuralization” in the mainstream platform studies literature, this empirical study identifies socio-economic actors and examines their relations in digital governance mediated by data-driven platforms in the Chinese con...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Social Media + Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251314625 |
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| Summary: | Critically engaging with the prevalent theses of “platformization” and “infrastructuralization” in the mainstream platform studies literature, this empirical study identifies socio-economic actors and examines their relations in digital governance mediated by data-driven platforms in the Chinese context. Through a case study of “the digital reform” in Zhejiang Province, and the affiliated smart city project—City Brain—in Hangzhou, the municipal capital, this study draws on data from participatory observations and interviews to (1) provide a historical context, in which “platformization” in urban governance is aimed to serve market-oriented socio-economic reforms; (2) argue that such “platformization” is shaped by the long-standing structural tension between centralization and localism, which has been renewed by digital data flows; and (3) understand the shifting public–private demarcation in social interactions and arrangements to deflect continual frictions between the state, local agents, and platforms in the domain of digital governance. |
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| ISSN: | 2056-3051 |