3 ms·

It’s not direct, but the result can be the same (and it’s not just about being poor, it’s about a low credit score meaning you get shitty loan terms or a landlo

It’s not direct, but the result can be the same (and it’s not just about being poor, it’s about a low credit score meaning you get shitty loan terms or a landlord isn’t willing to rent to you). I won’t defend the social credit system, but I do think there are enough parallels with credit scores that it’s worth mentioning in the interest of getting some justice in that area.

chii 8y ago
credit score is purely financial. It "purely" indicates how likely you're going to default on your loans. A social "credit score" system is a way to control the behaviour of people in a society - by those who deem the control necessary for "the greater good". They are different classes of things - a financial credit score can be improved if your finances improve (by luck or by hardwork). A social credit score can't be improved unless you change your person/beliefs.
- jdietrich 8y ago
  "Purely financial" things can also be political and discriminatory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining
- oldoverholt 8y ago
  I don’t know enough about the social credit stuff to refute your characterization of it, but a financial credit score very much follows you even if you somehow end up with more money. Point is, a credit score often closes avenues by which you could get more money, hence the cyclical and punitive nature of it. The scare quotes of “the greater good” you used for the social credit system can equally be used to characterize credit scores as a way to control people’s financial and employment and living prospects in the interest of the “greater good” of financial markets. I think the idea that markets and the finance sector setting credit scores that have far reaching impacts on people’s lives is somehow categorically different than the state implementing a social credit system that might have similar outcomes isn’t correct. So we should talk about them in similar terms.
- ouid 8y ago
  it's not purely financial. If you're a tenant and you get in a non-financial dispute with your landlord, for instance, your credit score can be affected easily.
  - dwild 8y ago
    > in a non-financial dispute with your landlord, for instance, your credit score can be affected easily How?
    - ouid 8y ago
      eviction
      - chii 8y ago
        only if you refuse to pay the rent.
        oldoverholt 8y ago
        Virtually every state lets landlords evict you for no reason at all.

chii 8y ago

credit score is purely financial. It "purely" indicates how likely you're going to default on your loans. A social "credit score" system is a way to control the behaviour of people in a society - by those who deem the control necessary for "the greater good". They are different classes of things - a financial credit score can be improved if your finances improve (by luck or by hardwork). A social credit score can't be improved unless you change your person/beliefs.

jdietrich 8y ago
"Purely financial" things can also be political and discriminatory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining
oldoverholt 8y ago
I don’t know enough about the social credit stuff to refute your characterization of it, but a financial credit score very much follows you even if you somehow end up with more money. Point is, a credit score often closes avenues by which you could get more money, hence the cyclical and punitive nature of it. The scare quotes of “the greater good” you used for the social credit system can equally be used to characterize credit scores as a way to control people’s financial and employment and living prospects in the interest of the “greater good” of financial markets. I think the idea that markets and the finance sector setting credit scores that have far reaching impacts on people’s lives is somehow categorically different than the state implementing a social credit system that might have similar outcomes isn’t correct. So we should talk about them in similar terms.
ouid 8y ago
it's not purely financial. If you're a tenant and you get in a non-financial dispute with your landlord, for instance, your credit score can be affected easily.
- dwild 8y ago
  > in a non-financial dispute with your landlord, for instance, your credit score can be affected easily How?
  - ouid 8y ago
    eviction
    - chii 8y ago
      only if you refuse to pay the rent.
      - oldoverholt 8y ago
        Virtually every state lets landlords evict you for no reason at all.