Surveillance capitalism & the
prospects of an information
civilization - Zuboff
Class Media technology & society
Once we searched Google, but now Google searches us. Once we thought of
digital services as free, but now surveillance capitalists think of us as free.
Starting from ‘Big Data’
Not yet a definition of Big Data
→ inadequate view of it as tech object, effect or capability
→ Zuboff takes different approach
💡 Big data = originates in the social, not an inevitable tech or
autonomous process
→ foundational component in a deeply intentional & highly
consequential new logic of accumulation (aka surveillance capitalism)
Surveillance capitalism
New form of information capitalism
→ aims to predict & modify human behaviour to produce revenue and
market control
Gradually began to take shape in last decade
New social relations & politics
→ have not yet been well theorised
Need for theorisation of everydayness as a commercialization strategy
What is surveillance capitalism?
(no need to learn by heart for exam)
Surveillance capitalism & the prospects of an information civilization - Zuboff 1
, New economic order
→ claims human experience as free raw material
→ used for hidden commercial practices (extraction, prediction, sales)
Parasitic economic logic + new global architecture of behavioural
modifications
→ production is subordinated to this
Unprecedented concentrations of wealth, knowledge & power
→ rogue mutation of capitalism
Foundational framework of surveillance economy
Significant threat to human nature
→ same as industrial capitalism was a threat to the natural world
Origin of new instrumetarian power
→ asserting dominance over society & presenting challenges to market
democracy
Aims to impose a new collective order based on total certainty
A coup from above
→ an overthrow of people’s sovereignty & expropriation of critical
human rights
Computer mediation
Information tech → fundamental duality
Can be used to replace humans with machine
→ aka more continuity & control
→ same logic used in the past
Automation generates information
→ providing transparency to activities that were not before
⇒ imposes information (programmed instructions) + produces information
⇒ difference between smart & dumb
Division of learning
Informate = automate + inform
Surveillance capitalism & the prospects of an information civilization - Zuboff 2
prospects of an information
civilization - Zuboff
Class Media technology & society
Once we searched Google, but now Google searches us. Once we thought of
digital services as free, but now surveillance capitalists think of us as free.
Starting from ‘Big Data’
Not yet a definition of Big Data
→ inadequate view of it as tech object, effect or capability
→ Zuboff takes different approach
💡 Big data = originates in the social, not an inevitable tech or
autonomous process
→ foundational component in a deeply intentional & highly
consequential new logic of accumulation (aka surveillance capitalism)
Surveillance capitalism
New form of information capitalism
→ aims to predict & modify human behaviour to produce revenue and
market control
Gradually began to take shape in last decade
New social relations & politics
→ have not yet been well theorised
Need for theorisation of everydayness as a commercialization strategy
What is surveillance capitalism?
(no need to learn by heart for exam)
Surveillance capitalism & the prospects of an information civilization - Zuboff 1
, New economic order
→ claims human experience as free raw material
→ used for hidden commercial practices (extraction, prediction, sales)
Parasitic economic logic + new global architecture of behavioural
modifications
→ production is subordinated to this
Unprecedented concentrations of wealth, knowledge & power
→ rogue mutation of capitalism
Foundational framework of surveillance economy
Significant threat to human nature
→ same as industrial capitalism was a threat to the natural world
Origin of new instrumetarian power
→ asserting dominance over society & presenting challenges to market
democracy
Aims to impose a new collective order based on total certainty
A coup from above
→ an overthrow of people’s sovereignty & expropriation of critical
human rights
Computer mediation
Information tech → fundamental duality
Can be used to replace humans with machine
→ aka more continuity & control
→ same logic used in the past
Automation generates information
→ providing transparency to activities that were not before
⇒ imposes information (programmed instructions) + produces information
⇒ difference between smart & dumb
Division of learning
Informate = automate + inform
Surveillance capitalism & the prospects of an information civilization - Zuboff 2
