Chen Changwen

陈昶文, Ph.D. student, NUS. Work Culture, Digital Economy, Social Development, Technology and Society.

[Chen Changwen @CChangwen]

China recently stopped releasing youth unemployment STA, which has last grown higher than 20.8%. This is very much related to involution/neijuan (内卷). Check our latest paper @HongRenyi if you're interested in involution, youth, education, and capitalism. https://t.co/DNs6U18tHv

[Sixth Tone @SixthTone]

Can AI replace humans? “Someone needs to take responsibility when things go wrong. You can’t blame a machine. That’s why we’re irreplaceable — we’re professionally responsible for being responsible,” said a state enterprise employee.

https://t.co/ZLQyQH1jQH

[Renyi Hong @HongRenyi]

How do dashcams extract value from injury?
The first article of a 2-part series examines how work injury is commodified through dashcams. I look into the curious history of dashcams in Singapore and explore how their value is built on worker injury. A🧵
https://t.co/xkVsWXeF5p

[Marc Steinberg @msteinbrg]

🚨Japanese convenience stores are endlessly fascinating. They are also precursors to platforms in Asia as I show in this newly published article. I've been researching this lineage for years and am thrilled to share -out in Social Media + Society now! 🚨

https://t.co/wCiAuxUblh

[Marc Steinberg @msteinbrg]

This must-read piece on SoftBank by @jacklqiu just dropped. Amidst a backdrop of empire building and neoimperialism, this timely piece considers SoftBank as part of a longer tradition of Japanese Imperialism, incl modern keiretsu.

https://t.co/HqCEd5W22H

[Ling Zhang @LingZhang_NY]

Our edited volume, Socializing Medicine: Health Humanities and East Asian Media (edited by Pao-chen Tang , Yuqian Yan, and Ling Zhang, HKUP, 2025), is available for pre-order: https://t.co/V5uDmvXfJ4

[Chen Changwen @CChangwen]

https://t.co/tTBy1ITI1k

[Chen Changwen @CChangwen]

Our paper, led by @yifanwwwang, on digital repair in Shenzhen was published in @e_flux, guest edited by @mckenziewark, as part of the special issue "A Hacker Manifesto at Twenty." Please check it out if you are interested. https://t.co/VMMO4Gq9zp

[Sixth Tone @SixthTone]

Young professionals are booking out study rooms well into their 20s as they try to stay ahead of the competition.

https://t.co/Nm3pKvLmCa

[Chen Changwen @CChangwen]

A short article I recently wrote for @SixthTone, based on our previous research on self-study rooms and involution culture among Chinese youth.
https://t.co/lpkHPwggae

[Yuk Hui @digital_objects]

Very pleased to announce the open-access publication of Cybernetics for the 21st Century Vol 1. Epistemological Reconstruction, co-published by @philotechne and the Hanart Press. You can download an eBook or order a paperback here: https://t.co/lCn2zamOO1

[Modern Japan History Association @modernjapanhist]

We are delighted to announce that the 2024 Modern Japan History Association Book Prize has been awarded to Jessamyn R. Abel's "Dream Super-Express: A Cultural History of the World's First Bullet Train" (@stanfordpress, 2022)!

[Chen Changwen @CChangwen]

This is a very fascinating history of the gig and taxi drivers in Singapore. I was fortunate to learn about an earlier version of this story in Prof Renyi's class #NM4242!

[Renyi Hong @HongRenyi]

What is gig work meant to do?

Out at Lateral, this article probes at the exploitation-thesis common to the gig. Looking at the Comfort taxi experiment in Singapore, we explore how the gig can “make live,” constructing a life and seeking control over it. https://t.co/ovtgHSYCSu

[Clare Daly @ClareDalyIRL]

Israel has spent a month pounding Gaza into rubble and filling the streets with children's blood. With European and American weapons, and European and American support. Still @vonderleyen cannot even say the word: "ceasefire." This isn't just Israel's genocide. It's Europe's too.

[Journal of Cultural Economy @JCultEcon]

NEW: Business of involution: self-study rooms and work culture in China
@CChangwen & @HongRenyi https://t.co/N5ISXmvw0M

[Chen Changwen @CChangwen]

@HongRenyi 4) At the beginning of 2022, Chinese tech companies began referring to mass retrenchment of employees as graduation (bi ye), and employees have taken to calling each other classmates (tong xue). Involution shows us how important education is for the study of labor and capitalism.

[Chen Changwen @CChangwen]

China recently stopped releasing youth unemployment STA, which has last grown higher than 20.8%. This is very much related to involution/neijuan (内卷). Check our latest paper @HongRenyi if you're interested in involution, youth, education, and capitalism. https://t.co/DNs6U18tHv

[Chen Changwen @CChangwen]

@HongRenyi 3) Internalizing pain as progression, and self-release as therapy, self-study rooms also advance a depoliticized vision of overwork – where capacity is positioned as athletic achievement and a source of pride and improvement, rather than exploitation. https://t.co/mDNRbRiaqY