Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the experiences of social workers and their sense of alienation, value degradation, and spiritual lethargy, in their own words, becoming gongju ren “tool people” as a result of China’s emphasis on technological advancement including AI and the market economy.

Paper long abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic research on social work and post-pandemic community life in Chengdu, Sichuan province, this paper examines the experiences of social workers and their sense of alienation, value degradation, and spiritual lethargy, in their own words, becoming gongju ren “tool people” as a result of China’s emphasis on technological advancement including AI and the market economy. While aiming to re-establish connectivity amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, social work integral to the government-funded initiatives for “community development,” has increasingly become oriented toward re-engineering community life to boost technology-mediated economy. We identify in this process a certain value orientation toward quantification and abstraction, which renders local networks and the role of social workers superfluous and even internal “frictions” to be eliminated. The double bind of social work and the market economy has cultivated a particular subjectivity—“tool people.” Instead of working hard to meet shifting needs from both residents and the local government, social workers chose to tang ping, literally “lie flat,” lowering their expectations and taking on an apathetic outlook on life. We contend while these world views appear to be associated with passivity or spiritual lethargy, they were navigational tactics for social workers to avoid distress and burnout. Their tactful adoption of such balancing strategies highlights their defiance and resistance against excessive exploitation of their affective labor as a way of maintaining spiritual resilience and wellbeing under the joint forces of market and technology.