Rage Against the Regime? Risk of Job Automation and Political Attitudes in China

Abstract

In 2015, the Chinese government has formulated the national strategic goal to digitize its industry and has increasingly fostered AI-based technologies and research. Has this affected the political attitudes of workers with occupations that face a high risk to be automated due to technological advancements? To examine this question, I analyze the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) from 2014 to 2017. I find that those whose jobs are likely to be automated became comparably less satisfied with China’s development and showed less trust in the Chinese central government. Furthermore, they indicate more support for the Western model of power separation. However, different from findings for Western countries, I find that workers with a high automation risk show less pride in their nation and national culture. A potential explanation for this is that national identity is strongly linked with the government in China as the Chinese government is aiming to use national identity to legitimize its power. Moreover, in line with the argument that governmental policies to foster new technologies may lead to political pushbacks from detrimentally affected workers, I find that the decrease in government support is particularly strong in provinces with high governmental support for AI, measured by the amount of published provincial AI documents.