Defining the Social Credit Score System
The social credit score is a government tool that assesses a person’s ability to pay based on their credit history when purchasing a home. This system can assess how a person meets their obligations, how they use the credit provided, and whether they understand the consequences of using resources in bad faith (McWilliams, 2020). This credit rating tells society how responsible and employable a person is in social interactions (Elgan, 2019). Additionally, such a system potentially improves or worsens social interactions as people rate each other based on their material abilities. However, Social Credit scores can also negatively affect a person and limit their access to social resources available to people of higher standing.
Ethical Concerns and State Perspectives
A person’s social credit score can be based on their ability to pay a home loan and other socially approved actions. This means that this system cannot be considered entirely ethical. On the part of the state, one can understand why the rating is useful: it determines a person’s place in society, purchasing power, and potential contribution to the country’s and the state’s development. Evaluating this system from an ethical perspective, one can conclude that the system determines who is a good person and who is a bad person (Elgan, 2019). For example, paying a loan on time, volunteering, and working hard would be socially approved, while not recycling or helping people experiencing poverty would be considered bad actions.
Consequences of Status-Based Ranking
The system ranks a person’s status, thereby returning society to a system of castes and statuses. Ultimately, the system can lead to many people being cut off from the world because of random or mistaken actions, because they will not be allowed to purchase housing, use social media, or take cabs (McWilliams, 2020). The lack of this system within the law makes it even more illegitimate. It means that citizens will be unable to protect themselves from the adverse effects of low status. Consequently, the social credit score system cannot lead to positive societal changes as conceived.
References
Elgan, N. (2019). Uh-oh: Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system. Fast Company. Web.
McWilliams, G. (2020). A study of the social credit score system and the implications it may have in Chinese society. The University of Mississippi: Honors Theses. Web.