Scorecards and Social Ranking

The articles from Daily Mail and Wired both deal with the concept of individuals being scored based on their actions, of which is now becoming a reality in China. The systems detailed in both readings create a number similar to a credit score, yet based on personal decisions. Essentially, they reward good behavior with higher scores and misdemeanors with deductions. Community service, helping family, buying items, payments on bills, social connections, and more all contribute to an individual's overall score. Due to social connections being factored in, associating with acquaintances and friends can either be a gain or loss. The scores of others within a circle can effect those they interact with most often. Overall, these systems are meant to inspire and maintain good behavior in the public. Although it may be intended as a positive action, it instead creates a new social discord. People may have to disassociate from friends to maintain good scores. Those with horrible scores will have an increasingly hard time finding a place in society; causing them to be displaced. Displacing problematic individuals will not dissolve their problems; it will only give them a limited range of places to go. Taking away a person's ability to integrate with the society they live in violates their human rights. Free will is essentially being policed, with an emphasis on the number attached to a person and not the person behind it. While trying to find ways of encouraging positive and proactive interactions with society is not negative, scorecard and social ranking systems do not seem like productive answers to the original problem. If anything, they have a high possibility of generating new problems.