Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.2, 2015

 

Construction of Policy Issues in Cyberspace

(Abstract)

 

Zhang Kangzhi and Xiang Yuqiong

 

Information technology is now shaping a virtual world through the internet, one that is seemingly parallel with nature and society. In this world, information flow breaks down all boundaries and realizes a second disembodiment of society, so that physical distance is no obstacle to acquiring the right to construct policy issues. On one hand, social issues can reach every internet terminal instantly and attract widespread concern, thus becoming policy issues; on the other, in the course of this transition from social issues to policy issues, opinions can be expressed at any network node and so freely enter the construction of policy issues. Therefore, policy issues are no longer local as they were in the past. Meanwhile, the right to construct policy issues is dispersed in cyberspace and marked by fluidity. In this fluid cyberspace, the center-periphery social structure has lost its roots and become a process of “decentralization.” The decentralization of social structure will allow people break away from the shackles of the system and acquire real autonomy. The construction of policy issues under the network structure has been achieved by autonomous individuals and operates through interrelationships involving high frequency interaction, since every individual in cyberspace has a symbiotic relationship with others. Under these conditions, the construction of policy issues will be carried out through human cooperation.