When Citizens See Like a State: Pandemic Governmentality in Chinese Gated Communities

During the Covid-19 pandemic, China was known for its onerous zero-Covid policy, which required tremendous work at the local governance level. This paper examines the extent to which the state penetrated local society with its Covid-related governance, and in what manner. What role did local residents play in this governance? Based on through two years of ethnographic work, this research examines Covid-related communications in WeChat groups of thirteen gated communities (xiaoqu weixin qun), which were intersections of physical and digital spaces to which people were confined during pandemic-related lockdowns. Findings, analyzed through a theoretical framework of governmentality, reveal that governance at the community level functioned only partially, as residents lacked familiarity with local bureaucratic actors. Nevertheless, the state machine functioned indirectly by constantly creating cultural and material conditions that impacted citizens’ conduct. In response, citizens engaged in self and mutual governmentality by aligning their pragmatic everyday decisions with the state’s agenda.