Research On Risk Sources Of The Political Risks Of Network Society In China

According to human history of social development,mankind is experiencing a information and technology revolution.From this perspective,the generalized network society is a naming of the current society.The narrow definition of network society is a kind of social formation which has particular social structure and social relationships,based on internet technology and internet space.There are close connection and interplay between network society and realistic society.Network society significantly boosts development and progress of human society.But at the same time,some issues of network society have brought risks and challenges to the national political security.Political risks of network society means a kind of possibility,that the elements of political security,such as national sovereignty,political system,the party’s administration,ideology,and political order,may be destroyed by the incurring,boosting,or amplification of network society.Risk sources of political risks of network society means the origins or reasons that consist in internet virtual society or correlate with network society.As one of the elements of risk evolution,risk source is not only the beginning of risk evolution,but also a role continuously in later stages of risk evolution.Therefore,risk source governance is not only the governance from sources,but also the governance from processes.We could use Delphi method to identify risk sources of political risks of network society.In the first round,the researcher went to places like Wuhan,Shanghai,Beijing,Tianjin and Chongqing to send the questionnaires to 42 theoretical or practical experts of the panel face-to-face,then obtained high quality results.In the second round,the researcher sent the questionnaires to the experts by email separately,and the statistics showed a high level of consistency.Finally,we got 37 risk sources,within 6 dimensions such as “the aspect of environment”,“the aspect of subject”,“the aspect of psychology”,“the aspect of behavior”,“the aspect of mobilization”,and “the aspect of control”.Risk sources of environmental aspect means the risk sources of internet developmental aspect.In the environmental aspect,there are 7 risk sources,such as the virtuality of netizens’ identity,the ratio imbalance of netizens who speak online,the lack of gatekeeping and the confusion of network information,the limitation of network personalized selection,the negative effect of network pseudo-environment,the threats of network vulnerability and hacker’s technique,and the threats of western countries’ network control force.Risk sources of subjective aspect means the hostile forces in realistic society,who active in network society.In the process of network communication,they are the peculiar communication subjects.Therefore,in the subjective aspect,there are 6 risk sources,such as the rioters and the terrorists,the regional separatists,the religious extremists,the overseas non-government organizations with political goals,a part of illegal network public relations organizations,and the other hostile forces.Risk sources of psychological aspect refers to the ordinary communication subjects’ psychosocial characteristics which as risk sources in the process of network communication.The ordinary communication subjects means network media and netizens.In the psychological aspect,there are 5 risk sources,such as self-presentation and “something striking about the way he speaks”;fundamental attribution error,belief perseverance and the limitation of heuristics;irrational emotion,group polarization and conformity;prejudice and stereotype;and conflict and relative deprivation.Risk sources of behavioral aspect means the peculiar communication subjects and the ordinary communication subjects’ behavioral characteristics which as risk sources in the process of network communication.In the behavioral aspect,there are 8 risk sources,such as netizens’ internet information discrimination capability needs improvement,a handful of internet media and opinion leaders’ irregular performances,irrational speeches and rumors prevail,the penetration of western ideology and the ideological war,the main political discourse is laughed at and deconstructed by over-entertaining,political issue is extended by over-politicization,the individual actions of breaking law and regulation are amplified by hating corruption phenomenon online,and the gap between rich and poor is widened by flaunting the considerable wealth online.Risk sources of mobilized aspect means the risk sources which in the process of destructive network political mobilization.In the mobilized aspect,there are 5 risk sources,such as the subjects of mobilization are more generalized and uncertain,the objects of mobilization are more susceptible and easier to gather,the tools of mobilization are more convenient and low-cost,the strategies of mobilization are more selective and adjustable,and the effects of mobilization are easier to expand.Risk sources of controlled aspect means the risk sources in the process of network social governance.In the controlled aspect,there are 6 risk sources,such as the controller’s internet governance capacity needs improvement,the legal standards of control are scarce,the links of control are higher demanded,the strategies of control are higher demanded,the available time of control is shortened,and the faults of control “add fuel to the fire”.To deeply recognize and grasp the risk sources of the political risks of internet virtual society,we need to discuss the characteristics of the risk sources,such as the objective existence,the dynamic progression,the inter-dependence,be impossible to eradicate,and be individually governable.We also need to classify the risk sources.Then we can parse the mechanism of the risk sources.During the evolution of one political risk of network society,there are many risk sources,which work together,interact with each other.The interactions of the risk sources show up as quantity changes and action changes.Through associating the quantity changes of the risk sources with the action changes of the risk sources,and coupling the action changes of the risk sources and each stage of risk evolution,a new theoretical model called the mechanism of the risk sources of the political risks is developed.We need to set up “conception of risks”,then govern the political risks of network society from the sources.Risks have limited functions to “govern themselves”,in addition,under the instruction of “conception of risks”,we can actively adopt some targeted strategies.Based on the constitution of risk sources,in the environmental aspect,we should secure the cyberspace infrastructure;in the subjective aspect,we should severely fight against the “three forces”;in the psychological aspect,we should understand and grasp netizens’ appeals;in the behavioral aspect,we should cultivate netizens’ internet literacy;in the mobilized aspect,we should monitor and judge internet public opinions;in the controlled aspect,we should improve controller’s internet governance capacity.Based on the mechanism of the risk sources,we should avoid risk sources’ connecting in series,block risk sources’ interactions,and decrease risk sources’ effects.The goal of risk source governance is “to stop problems before they start” in risks’ formative stage.In case the risks have formed,by governing risk sources,risks may be cleared up,rather than expanded.On the basis of the fundamental theory frame of political risks of network society,through demonstration survey and quantitative analysis,this research set up the constitutional system of the risk sources of the political risks of network society.Through qualitative research,the research analyzed 37 risk sources detail by detail,proposed the mechanism and the governance strategies of the risk sources.The results have certain theoretic and practical significance for recognizing the political risks of network society,and maintaining China’s political security and social stability.