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Coupling With the Digital Society: the Conceptualization of GDPR and PIPL of the Digital Society as Autopoiesis Systems

Ye, Jieying LU (2022) SOLM02 20221
Department of Sociology of Law
Abstract
As information technology develops in the past decade, the digital society has affected every
aspect of the social structure. The legal system faces the challenge in implementing the legal
norms, yet the evolved architecture of technology in the digital society makes it difficult for
the law to perform its function. One of the fields of challenge is legal protection of personal
data.
Legislators in various societies have recognized the challenges posed by the digital society and
have introduced new legal instruments for the regulation of the digital society. The GDPR and
the PIPL are two legal instruments that address the issue of personal data protection in the EU
and China.
As the benchmark laws for digital society... (More)
As information technology develops in the past decade, the digital society has affected every
aspect of the social structure. The legal system faces the challenge in implementing the legal
norms, yet the evolved architecture of technology in the digital society makes it difficult for
the law to perform its function. One of the fields of challenge is legal protection of personal
data.
Legislators in various societies have recognized the challenges posed by the digital society and
have introduced new legal instruments for the regulation of the digital society. The GDPR and
the PIPL are two legal instruments that address the issue of personal data protection in the EU
and China.
As the benchmark laws for digital society regulation, the GDPR and the PIPL have been
discussed extensively in the academia, but there have been a lack of studies from the
perspective of the legal system as a whole to investigate the reasons recognized by the system
that lead to the legal provisions.
This thesis aims to study the legal systems’ conceptualization of the social evolution in the
digital society and how such conceptualization led to the legal instruments. Its purpose is to
understand how social change is perceived and processed in the legal system through analysing
the laws that address the current state of society. Through understanding the process of forming
and expressing the legal conceptualization of digital society, it is possible to shed light on the
understanding of the dynamics within the legal system under the influence of the conditions
provided by the contemporary social environment.
This study adopts Luhmann's autopoiesis systems theory extensively and uses this theoretical
framework to perform content analysis and comparative law study on the legal texts of GDPR
and PIPL. The study in this paper is also expected to provide a different approach to apply the
theoretical framework of autopoiesis systems theory.
The results of this work show that the legal evolution represented by the GDPR and the PIPL
is enabled by the potential of evolution innate to the legal system; the evolution is demand by
the function of the legal system to produce stability for the social environment on the issue of
personal data protection; and the need to accommodate to the dynamic of other social systems
is the driving factor of the said evolution. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ye, Jieying LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOLM02 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
GDPR, PIPL, personal data protection, autopoiesis systems theory
language
English
id
9101195
date added to LUP
2022-10-10 16:36:29
date last changed
2022-10-10 16:36:29
@misc{9101195,
  abstract     = {{As information technology develops in the past decade, the digital society has affected every 
aspect of the social structure. The legal system faces the challenge in implementing the legal 
norms, yet the evolved architecture of technology in the digital society makes it difficult for 
the law to perform its function. One of the fields of challenge is legal protection of personal 
data. 
Legislators in various societies have recognized the challenges posed by the digital society and 
have introduced new legal instruments for the regulation of the digital society. The GDPR and 
the PIPL are two legal instruments that address the issue of personal data protection in the EU 
and China.
As the benchmark laws for digital society regulation, the GDPR and the PIPL have been 
discussed extensively in the academia, but there have been a lack of studies from the 
perspective of the legal system as a whole to investigate the reasons recognized by the system 
that lead to the legal provisions.
This thesis aims to study the legal systems’ conceptualization of the social evolution in the 
digital society and how such conceptualization led to the legal instruments. Its purpose is to 
understand how social change is perceived and processed in the legal system through analysing 
the laws that address the current state of society. Through understanding the process of forming 
and expressing the legal conceptualization of digital society, it is possible to shed light on the 
understanding of the dynamics within the legal system under the influence of the conditions 
provided by the contemporary social environment.
This study adopts Luhmann's autopoiesis systems theory extensively and uses this theoretical 
framework to perform content analysis and comparative law study on the legal texts of GDPR 
and PIPL. The study in this paper is also expected to provide a different approach to apply the 
theoretical framework of autopoiesis systems theory.
The results of this work show that the legal evolution represented by the GDPR and the PIPL 
is enabled by the potential of evolution innate to the legal system; the evolution is demand by 
the function of the legal system to produce stability for the social environment on the issue of 
personal data protection; and the need to accommodate to the dynamic of other social systems 
is the driving factor of the said evolution.}},
  author       = {{Ye, Jieying}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Coupling With the Digital Society: the Conceptualization of GDPR and PIPL of the Digital Society as Autopoiesis Systems}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}