To describe these processes, Zuboff coins a series of new concepts-uncontract, behavioral surplus, predictive markets, division of learning, shadow texts-which are systematically organized into a novel theory of value extraction and distribution in the new (“surveillance”) phase of contemporary capitalism. But reading this book makes us understand that few of us are aware of the nature and scale of the operations through which such accumulation of power/knowledge operates and its effects on our freedom.ĬRITICAL THEORY IN THE AGE OF SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM They will also have heard of the scandals that have sporadically burgeoned at the surface of the public’s attention, like the use of personal data to derive voting predictions by Cambridge Analytica, whose practices, as Shoshana Zuboff ( Reference Zuboff2019) reveals, were not very different from the daily operation of the more established “surveillance capitalist” companies. Many readers will be aware of the context in which these broad changes have happened-namely, the alliance between digital and social media companies and national security agencies formed after 9/11. To begin with, it is driven by the highest theoretical ambition put to the service of enlightening the general public about the fundamental threats to our freedom and dignity represented by the unprecedented and unaccountable concentrations of knowledge and power in the hands of a few capitalists. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is a landmark text for many reasons (Zuboff Reference Zuboff2019).
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