Big Data Big Issues E05 | Surveillance Capitalism Part 2: The Unprecedented Rise of Corporate Power

What do corporations do with all that data they collect about us, and why does it make them powerful? To answer this question, we focus on Shoshana Zuboff's 2019 book: "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism", specifically on the rise of corporate power through instrumentarianism.

By collecting and analyzing personal data, corporations are able to make predictions about how a person is likely to behave in the future. They use this data to create seemingly harmless targeted ads - but what else can they do with it?

Zuboff argues that this capability actually reflects the birth of a new form of power called "instrumentarianism." Corporations are unbounded in their desire for profits, so too are they unbounded in their conquest for behavioral data. This is imporant to them because it allows them to create better personal models, and predict your behavior with a higher level of certainty. Using these behavioral futures, they can not only nudge you to buy certain products, but they can also make inferences on your private life - details like your political beliefs, your intelligence, and even if your parents were divorced in your childhood. Advanced data science combined with cutting-edge psychology has created a marketplace of personal profiling unlike anything we have ever seen.

Furthermore, these corporations have a unique level of influence in politics. They can affect the outcomes of elections, invest in lobbying, or even encourage specific people to go vote.

All of this paints a picture of unprecedented powers, which only through Zuboff's insight do we see from a clear perspective.

To learn more visit our website:

► https://bigdatabigissues.com/

Follow Sheldon Kreger on LinkedIn:

► https://www.linkedin.com/in/sh....eldon-kreger-1605443