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A review by anneklein
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
2.5
- this book could have been half the length that it was: about two thirds of the way, the author finished describing the features and implications of surveillance capitalism, and merely restated concepts using new case studies. she also mentions "synthetic declarations" at one point and as far as i'm aware, doesn't explain what she means by "synthetic" in this context.
- this is still very much rooted in the belief that capitalism can be redressed and that by contrast, projects such as marxism are impossible utopias. zuboff concludes by praising "democratic institutions" as the only tools to dismantle this iteration of market capitalism, without examining how to change the existing institutions for the better
- the writing is not only unnecessarily dense but also extremely dramatic in a way that does not help zuboff's thesis. when you describe events as severe as the ones in this book, any additional dramatic flair only makes you sound like a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist, and it's a shame because the book does have at least one or two good points to make.
- i found the distinction zuboff makes between totalitarianism and the social order of surveillance capitalism (which she calls instrumentarianism) very insightful, and in general her analysis of the features of surveillance capitalism is enlightening
- however, the book suffers from the sole focus on the dangers of surveillance capitalism, not offering any hope or ideas to change it beyond a few superficial statements thrown in at the very end
- and zuboff becomes extremely paternalistic at the end towards young generations even as she praises the efforts they make to counteract instrumentarianism. sometimes her writing reads like a worried mum's post on a local facebook group
- i could have done without the abundant praise of individualism and neoliberal democracies dotted throughout the book. zuboff positions herself as a firm defender of the manifest destiny individualist idea that has taken humanity "centuries to achieve", and completely disregards collective ways of organising society (like indigenous peoples' social systems) that show alternatives to either surveillance capitalism or colonial western thought. she comes pretty close to defining something similar when she speaks of the right to sanctuary, and sanctuary constituting more than one configuration: sanctuary not as in being on your own, but also as in the intimacy of family or close ones. unfortunately, these ideas are presented much too late in the book and barely integrated into her previous analysis.
- in general, the framework that describes surveillance capitalism is very perceptive, but the way she thinks of it in connection to both the history of societies and the future of humanity falls very flat.
- again, COULDNT WE HAVE HAD ANOTHER ROUND OF EDITS????????
- this is still very much rooted in the belief that capitalism can be redressed and that by contrast, projects such as marxism are impossible utopias. zuboff concludes by praising "democratic institutions" as the only tools to dismantle this iteration of market capitalism, without examining how to change the existing institutions for the better
- the writing is not only unnecessarily dense but also extremely dramatic in a way that does not help zuboff's thesis. when you describe events as severe as the ones in this book, any additional dramatic flair only makes you sound like a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist, and it's a shame because the book does have at least one or two good points to make.
- i found the distinction zuboff makes between totalitarianism and the social order of surveillance capitalism (which she calls instrumentarianism) very insightful, and in general her analysis of the features of surveillance capitalism is enlightening
- however, the book suffers from the sole focus on the dangers of surveillance capitalism, not offering any hope or ideas to change it beyond a few superficial statements thrown in at the very end
- and zuboff becomes extremely paternalistic at the end towards young generations even as she praises the efforts they make to counteract instrumentarianism. sometimes her writing reads like a worried mum's post on a local facebook group
- i could have done without the abundant praise of individualism and neoliberal democracies dotted throughout the book. zuboff positions herself as a firm defender of the manifest destiny individualist idea that has taken humanity "centuries to achieve", and completely disregards collective ways of organising society (like indigenous peoples' social systems) that show alternatives to either surveillance capitalism or colonial western thought. she comes pretty close to defining something similar when she speaks of the right to sanctuary, and sanctuary constituting more than one configuration: sanctuary not as in being on your own, but also as in the intimacy of family or close ones. unfortunately, these ideas are presented much too late in the book and barely integrated into her previous analysis.
- in general, the framework that describes surveillance capitalism is very perceptive, but the way she thinks of it in connection to both the history of societies and the future of humanity falls very flat.
- again, COULDNT WE HAVE HAD ANOTHER ROUND OF EDITS????????