SOCIAL CREDIT SYSTEM: THE INITIAL CONDITIONS AND THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE HISTORICAL PHENOMENON

Abstract

This article explores the doctrinal foundations and historical prerequisites of the "Social Credit System" (SCS), a project implemented in the People's Republic of China since the early 2000s and currently being "exported" to other countries. The study analyzes both specifically national, Chinese sources and the prerequisites for the formation of the modern social credit and control system, as well as external influences, particularly from the history of Western European political and legal thought and Western social institutions. By examining the Social Credit System as a technology for societal surveillance and control, the authors trace its roots to Jeremy Bentham's "Panopticon" project, Taylorist management philosophy, Confucian and Legalist traditions of imperial China, ideas and institutions from the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and American financial scoring systems. The research employs historical, systematic, comparative legal methods, deconstruction methods, and socio-philosophical and political analysis. The article incorporates the latest publications on the subject. It critically analyzes doctrinal sources such as works by J. Bentham, F. Taylor, and other authors. This study represents the first examination in domestic literature of the historical and doctrinal prerequisites of China's Social Credit System. It builds on the work of foreign scholars who have explored the history of the SCS. For the first time, Confucian ideas and Legalist school ideas are interpreted as complementary sources of the contemporary social control system deployed in China. The article details the process by which the Chinese leadership recognized the need for the SCS, analyzing the goals of this technology. As noted by the authors, the Chinese SCS and related control technologies form a unique "bridge" linking the "Western" development of social institutions with typically "Eastern" political and socio-cultural traditions. The conclusion highlights both the positive aspects of SCS implementation and the "shadow" side of this process, including its reverse and all associated challenges.