演讲者与讲题简介 Jack Qiu|Revisit Working-Class Network Society: China and the World

[mks_dropcap style="circle" size="52" bg_color="#ffffff" txt_color="#dd3333"]W[/mks_dropcap]estern theories of information society are often situated in post-industrial contexts with limited explanatory power in pre-industrial and industrializing regions of the Global South. Nearly a decade ago, Qiu developed the concept of working-class network society to better understand the rapid growth of ICTs in industrializing China and its implications for social class relations in Chinese cities. The central argument was about the rise of the information have-less (groups in between the have’s and have-not’s) whose existential needs serve as the basis for not only technological diffusion and economic growth but also continued social struggles, class formation dynamics, new vulnerabilities and dependency relations. In this talk, Qiu will revisit the concept of working-class network society as China has entered another phase of industrialization with a different role in the global economy. Does the idea of the information have-less still hold? For China, for the industrializing regions of the Global South, and for the world? [mks_dropcap style="circle" size="52" bg_color="#ffffff" txt_color="#dd3333"]J[/mks_dropcap]ack Linchuan Qiu is a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he serves as deputy director of the C-Centre (Centre for Chinese Media and Comparative Communication Research). His publications include World’s Factory in the Information Era 信息时代的世界工厂 (Guangxi Normal University Press, 2013), Working-Class Network Society (MIT Press, 2009), Mobile Communication and Society(co-authored, MIT Press, 2006), some of which have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Portugese, and Korean. He is on the editorial boards of 10 international academic journals, including six indexed in the SSCI, and is Associate Editor for Journal of Communication. He also works with grassroots NGOs and provides consultancy services for international organizations.

西方资讯社会理论通常基于后工业脉络，对于前工业和工业化中的全球南方解释有限。十年前，為了更好的理解工业化的中国之资讯与信息及通讯技术的快速成长，及其在中国城市社会阶级关系的意涵，邱林川发展了工人阶级的网络社会概念。其中关键在于信息中下阶层（在有和无群体中）的外部需求，不仅是技术差异和经济成长的偏见，也持续建构了社会斗争，阶级动态形构，新的受害者与依赖关系。在此演讲中，面对中国已然在全球经济体中扮演另一个阶段工业化角色，邱林川将会重访自己的工人阶级网络社会概念：资讯的有─无者分析概念仍有用吗？对中国乃至全球南方的工业化区域，甚或世界有用吗？ 邱林川，香港中文大學新聞與傳播學院教授，中華傳媒與比較傳播研究中心副主任。主要研究信息傳播技術、階級、全球化及社會變遷。著作包括《信息時代的世界工廠》、《工人階級的網絡社會》、《移動通信與社會》等，其中部分已被譯成德、法、西、葡、韩等國語言。他目前擔任十本國際學刊編委，包括六本收入SSCI的頂級刊物，亦是《傳播學刊》副主編。此外，他還與基層民間組織展開合作，並為國際機構提供咨詢服務。