Book Review – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

Surveillance capitalists like Google and Amazon will do whatever they can to corner supply routes to data about us and our actions. In Zuboff’s lengthy book The age of surveillance capitalism, we learn about the strategic and often underhand means by which these data are captured, and the ‘instrumen...

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Main Author: Ella Hafermalz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association International de Management Stratégique (AIMS) 2021-12-01
Series:M@n@gement
Subjects:
Online Access:https://management-aims.com/index.php/mgmt/article/view/5519/14165
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author Ella Hafermalz
author_facet Ella Hafermalz
author_sort Ella Hafermalz
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description Surveillance capitalists like Google and Amazon will do whatever they can to corner supply routes to data about us and our actions. In Zuboff’s lengthy book The age of surveillance capitalism, we learn about the strategic and often underhand means by which these data are captured, and the ‘instrumentarian’ ideology that provides the logic for this enterprise. Zuboff shows that the aim of advertisers and ‘people analytics’ advocates is to use our personal data to determine our behavior. At stake is free will and our ‘right to the future tense’. In this book review, I reflect on Zuboff ’s analysis of how Big Tech, as Big Other, is controlling our lives. I first highlight the prescience of the book’s arguments. I then compare aspects of the book with earlier tomes that were critical of new technology, to argue that taking a deterministic view of peoples’ relationship with technology may inadvertently support the hyped narrative that data analytics and algorithms are all-powerful.
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spelling doaj.art-e7cf9290681942578f894a01495b4e252022-12-21T16:58:20ZengAssociation International de Management Stratégique (AIMS)M@n@gement1286-46922021-12-01241610.37725/mgmt.v24.55195519Book Review – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of PowerElla Hafermalz0KIN Research Group, School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The NetherlandsSurveillance capitalists like Google and Amazon will do whatever they can to corner supply routes to data about us and our actions. In Zuboff’s lengthy book The age of surveillance capitalism, we learn about the strategic and often underhand means by which these data are captured, and the ‘instrumentarian’ ideology that provides the logic for this enterprise. Zuboff shows that the aim of advertisers and ‘people analytics’ advocates is to use our personal data to determine our behavior. At stake is free will and our ‘right to the future tense’. In this book review, I reflect on Zuboff ’s analysis of how Big Tech, as Big Other, is controlling our lives. I first highlight the prescience of the book’s arguments. I then compare aspects of the book with earlier tomes that were critical of new technology, to argue that taking a deterministic view of peoples’ relationship with technology may inadvertently support the hyped narrative that data analytics and algorithms are all-powerful.https://management-aims.com/index.php/mgmt/article/view/5519/14165surveillance capitalismzuboffbook reviewinstrumentarianismdigital technology
spellingShingle Ella Hafermalz
Book Review – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
M@n@gement
surveillance capitalism
zuboff
book review
instrumentarianism
digital technology
title Book Review – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
title_full Book Review – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
title_fullStr Book Review – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
title_full_unstemmed Book Review – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
title_short Book Review – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
title_sort book review the age of surveillance capitalism the fight for a human future at the new frontier of power
topic surveillance capitalism
zuboff
book review
instrumentarianism
digital technology
url https://management-aims.com/index.php/mgmt/article/view/5519/14165
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