Embedded symbiosis: an institutional approach to government-business relationships in the Chinese internet industry

IF 4.2 1区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Information Communication & Society Pub Date : 2022-10-30 DOI:10.1080/1369118X.2022.2128600

Weishan Miao, Jiacheng Liu, Shangwei Wu

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT Studies on the Chinese internet mostly focus on how the government censors content and regulate digital platforms. We rarely know how internet companies understand, respond to and negotiate the relationship with the government. This study examines Danlan, the company that runs the world’s largest gay dating app Blued. We approach the interaction between Danlan and the government with an institutional perspective, treating them both as organizations seeking resources and legitimacy. Drawing on fieldwork, we develop the concept of embedded symbiosis, which characterizes the collaborative government-business relationship, and explore how Danlan, the seemingly weak side in this relationship, plays an active role in initiating, negotiating, and maintaining such relations at different stages of embeddedness. Danlan endeavors to form a symbiosis with the government to pursue its survival and development, yet eventually risks alienating from the gay community and colluding with the state in governing homosexuality. The case of Danlan shows the possibility for internet companies to seek legitimacy in an ever-changing political environment through working closely with the authorities and even becoming part of the governmental system itself.

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嵌入式共生:中国互联网行业政商关系的制度研究

对中国互联网的研究主要集中在政府如何审查内容和监管数字平台。我们很少知道互联网公司是如何理解、应对和谈判与政府的关系的。我们从制度的角度来看待淡兰与政府之间的互动，将他们视为寻求资源和合法性的组织。在田野调查的基础上，我们提出了嵌入共生的概念，这是协同政商关系的特征，并探讨了在这种关系中看似弱势的一方丹兰在不同嵌入阶段如何在启动、谈判和维持这种关系中发挥积极作用。淡蓝努力与政府形成共生关系以谋求自身的生存和发展，但最终却面临着与同性恋群体疏远、与国家勾结治理同性恋的风险。丹兰的案例表明，互联网公司有可能通过与当局密切合作，甚至成为政府体系的一部分，在不断变化的政治环境中寻求合法性。

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来源期刊

Information Communication & Society Multiple-

CiteScore

10.20

自引率

4.80%

发文量

110

期刊介绍： Drawing together the most current work upon the social, economic, and cultural impact of the emerging properties of the new information and communications technologies, this journal positions itself at the centre of contemporary debates about the information age. Information, Communication & Society (iCS) transcends cultural and geographical boundaries as it explores a diverse range of issues relating to the development and application of information and communications technologies (ICTs), asking such questions as: -What are the new and evolving forms of social software? What direction will these forms take? -ICTs facilitating globalization and how might this affect conceptions of local identity, ethnic differences, and regional sub-cultures? -Are ICTs leading to an age of electronic surveillance and social control? What are the implications for policing criminal activity, citizen privacy and public expression? -How are ICTs affecting daily life and social structures such as the family, work and organization, commerce and business, education, health care, and leisure activities? -To what extent do the virtual worlds constructed using ICTs impact on the construction of objects, spaces, and entities in the material world? iCS analyses such questions from a global, interdisciplinary perspective in contributions of the very highest quality from scholars and practitioners in the social sciences, gender and cultural studies, communication and media studies, as well as in the information and computer sciences.