ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the theoretical perspective on judging publics and private judgements, with an emphasis on moral economy and exclusionary citizenship. It considers how Chinese judging has changed over the course of thirty-four years of reform, contrasting the first decade of reform with the period after 1992. In the former period, informal criticism such as gossip was most important, whereas open criticism of the state and government officials became more feasible in the later period. The chapter suggests that changes in the political economy have resulted in the lesser effectiveness of informal judging and criticism, which may be encouraging the growth of more contentious and open resistance and dissent. It offers some comments on what the Chinese experience might say about the intersections among moral economy, law and political economy. The different forms of judging and evaluation operating within each discursive domain interact to influence the dynamics of transformation of reforming socialist societies.
