J.J. Sylvia IV, Mark Andrejevic
International Journal of Communication. Vol. 10.
Publication year: 2016

Abstract

Mark Andrejevic, associate professor at Pomona College, and J. J. Sylvia IV, PhD student in the Communication Rhetoric and Digital Media Program at North Carolina State University, discuss the impact of the neo-materialist turn for media studies and the importance of critiquing surveillance through the theoretical framework of power in addition to that of privacy. Although the decline of symbolic efficiency, brought on at least in part by the rise of big data, seems to disrupt the link that Michel Foucault draws between power and knowledge, Andrejevic considers possibilities for reimagining the knowledge structures associated with big data’s infrastructure.