State-led embeddedness: Analyzing the discursive construction of platforms and social good in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen

Drawing on Polanyi’s concept of embeddedness, this article introduces the concept of “state-led embeddedness” to theorize non-competitive and subordinating state-platform relations in China. Under state-led embeddedness, platforms are not conceived first and foremost as private economic actors but as instruments for providing social good and resolving social problems. This article presents a qualitative thematic analysis of the official discourses about platforms for and against social good in four major cities that represent key technology and innovation hubs in China: Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The analysis reveals how platforms are discursively portrayed as emerging providers of social good, both nationally and locally. This discursive construction of platforms in conjunction with social good, in turn, encourages the state to legitimize collaborative governance and surveillance practices in cities like Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Finally, this study affords opportunities to regionalize platform studies in China by considering how diverse forms of intergovernmental relationships might result in diverse interpretations of a “platform for social good” in practical scenarios.