module
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
SPA3003: Data Justice and Surveillance Capitalism
This module descriptor refers to the 2023/4 academic year.
Overview
| NQF Level | 4 | ||
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| Credits | 15 | ECTS Value | 7.5 |
| Term(s) and duration | This module will run during term 1 (11 weeks) | ||
| Academic staff | Dr Ernesto Schwartz Marin (Convenor) | ||
| Pre-requisites | None | ||
| Co-requisites | None | ||
| Available via distance learning | No | ||
Digital platforms that conglomerate the data of billions of individuals around the world have become transnational monopolies, and powerful international political players on such a scale that scholars recognise it as a new form of surveillance capitalism. Capable of regulating flows of information and giving access to analytics and intelligence to the highest bidder, digital platforms’ profit seeking logics shape the public sphere in ways no one imagined a decade ago. The arrival of the internet and social networks, along with an increasingly globalised trade was signalled as the end of sovereignty and national borders. Similarly, digital platforms are multiplying and connecting bigoted worldviews, new forms of oppression, aiding state surveillance and tactics to destabilise democratic processes in the global north and south. Nonetheless, resistance is also facilitated by digital platforms. This module will help you reflect in a critical way into how power operates in the datafied society, exploring current ways of searching for justice in these techno-scientific contexts.
| Module created | 17/02/2023 | Last revised | 06/03/2023 |
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