XI’AN—Scholars shed light on China’s social transformations at the 2021 China Social Development High-level Forum in Xi’an on May 23.

Social transformations

The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the game among major countries are reshaping the current world pattern.

China will gradually enter a new stage of development along with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, said Shi Ying, a professor from the College of Humanities and Social Development at Northwest A&F University. Judging from past experience, while the industrial revolution brings about changes in productivity, it will also be accompanied by the disappearance of traditional occupations and the birth of new work formats.

According to historian Yuval Harari, artificial intelligence will bring about the largest employment change in history, and mass unemployment will follow.

However, Shi argued that such anticipation is too pessimistic. Machine learning is essentially an algorithm designed by humans. Without self-awareness, it will remain at the imitation stage, unable to obtain the aesthetic, understanding, and innovative abilities possessed by humans, Shi noted.

China has entered a new stage of development. The process of replacing “technical” jobs with artificial intelligence will occur with the development of network society and the digital economy. The internet will transform traditional jobs and new labor formats will arise, Shi noted.

Social governance

Some Western scholars believe that Chinese society has maintained stability in the tide of reforms, due to the “resilience” of China’s national governance. This is manifested in many aspects, such as public policy, official management, and state-society relations, said Li Youmei, the first vice president of the Shanghai Academy.

Looking back through history, one can see that social governance is people-oriented under the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. Li Peilin, a Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, explained the gap between China’s eastern and western regions from a historical perspective. From the 1930s to the present, the relative gap in regional economic development in the country has undergone a process from narrowing to widening and then narrowing again.

In response to the economic downturn in northeast China, Li Peilin said that the old industrial base’s transformation is a long-term process, excluding natural conditions, industrial foundations, and social structure factors.

“We need to have enough patience, while going beyond path dependence on resource industry and heavy industry,” Li Peilin said, who suggested eliminating path dependence on the planned economy, improving the market economy, and creating a sound business environment.

Way forward

China may face a fragmented society and a risky society in the new stage of development, said Chen Xinxiang, a professor from the School of Ethnology and Sociology at Minzu University of China. The process of increasing social mobility will accelerate the formation of a fragmented society, and various uncertainties or risks in modern society have put forward requirements for the country’s collective cohesion and capacity for systematic risk resistance.

The establishment of a cohesive community, one that counters fragmentation, should be the general trend, Chen said. Academics, especially social science researchers, need to guide people to establish a sense of community for the Chinese nation and strengthen connections among communities, social groups, and individuals.

Facing the COVID-19 pandemic, China has integrated individuals with weak ties into communities as the basic unit to fight together, and achieved good results. This practical experience shows that creating “weak ties” among and opportunities for people to understand each other is an effective way to integrate individuals into the whole and to forge a sense of community for the Chinese nation.

China’s new generation of laborers tend to choose individualized, scattered, and flexible “new” employment fields. This change will place higher demands on the country’s social security system, Shi noted. At present, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is formulating social security measures for flexible employment, including: diversifying employment forms and digitizing employment management; creating platforms for organization and expanding the platforms’ scale; facilitating part-time jobs and developing gig economy jobs toward full-time employment.