Zhou, Taomo, and Stevens, Hallam (2026) Post-socialist biotech: labor, value, and risk in China's transitional economy. Science, Technology & Human Values. (In Press)

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Abstract

This article examines the development of a biotechnological industry in the context of China's transition from planned to market economy since 1979. It focuses on two biotech companies, Weiguang Biological Products Co., Ltd., and BGI, both headquartered in Shenzhen—China's first and most successful Special Economic Zone (SEZ). We argue that China's incomplete and incremental reform significantly shaped the forms and practices of a “post-socialist biotech.” This distinguishes it from Western counterparts in terms of labor governance, value creation, and the conceptualization of risk. The institutional inheritance of socialism allows the two Shenzhen-based biotech companies to organize labor in unique ways. As a result, their approach to innovation differs from the capital-intensive model of scientific research in the West. Beyond monetary profits, the products of these two firms also generate values that are ideological and social, contributing to the Chinese state's political agenda and aiming to strengthen national identity. While conforming to state agendas helps these enterprises counter economic risks, their growth remains confined by state domination in strategic sectors. Altogether, the three axes (labor, value, and risk) comprise a model of biotech that reflects the economic structures of gradual and incomplete marketization.

Item ID:	90827
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1552-8251
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2026. The accepted version may be made open access without embargo in an Institutional Repository.
Date Deposited:	24 Feb 2026 01:08
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4410 Sociology > 441007 Sociology and social studies of science and technology @ 75% 43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4303 Historical studies > 430301 Asian history @ 25%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1399 Other culture and society > 139999 Other culture and society not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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