Published
Feb 15, 2021Page count
198 pagesISBN
978-1529215311Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Feb 15, 2021Page count
198 pagesISBN
978-1529215335Imprint
Bristol University Press
Algorithms and the End of Politics
On the blog:
Silicon Valley and the future of US politics
The need for AI to go beyond token democracy
How agentic AI challenges democracy
In the media
'Algorithms and Society' in The Measure of Everyday Life podcast
The prospects for democracy in this new age of AI
'What the Capitol insurrection and #GME tell us about the growth of anti-system politics' in LSE US Centre blog
'Scott Timcke, algorithms, politics, capitalism & racism' in the Digital Society Podcast Episode 25
EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. As the US contends with issues of populism and de-democratization, this timely study considers the impacts of digital technologies on the country’s politics and society.
Timcke provides a Marxist analysis of the rise of digital media, social networks and technology giants like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. He looks at the impact of these new platforms and technologies on their users who have made them among the most valuable firms in the world.
Offering bold new thinking across data politics and digital and economic sociology, this is a powerful demonstration of how algorithms have come to shape everyday life and political legitimacy in the US and beyond.
"Offering bold new thinking across data politics and digital and economic sociology, this is a powerful demonstration of how algorithms have come to shape everyday life and political legitimacy in the US and beyond." New Books Network
"This provocative and illuminating book shows how digital technologies impose capitalism upon every facet of our lives and undermine democracy. An important critique that I highly recommend.” Victor Pickard, University of Pennsylvania
Scott Timcke studies the politics of race, class, and social inequality as they are mediated by digital infrastructures.
Introduction: The Great Simplification
Algorithms and The Critical Theory of Technology
The One Dimensionality of Data
Reactionary Tendencies in the Ruling Class
Platforms of Power
The Whiteness of Communication Studies
Misinformation and Ideology
Testbeds for Authoritarianism
Conclusion: The Fatal Abstractions of Capitalist Rule
