Big Data, Knowledge-power and Digital Pastoral Practices: the Mythological Foundations of Authority
Keywords:
Big Data, knowledge-power, legitimation, statistics, pastoral power, Foucault.
Abstract
On the basis of the intense impact that Big Data and related technologies are having on our personal and social existence, this article aims first of all to unravel —using the Foucauldian concept of knowledge/power— the nature of the knowledge provided by mass data collection as well as the way in which mining massive data sets are a means to legitimize decisions taken in uncertainty. Secondly, the novelty of this knowledge in relation to its most immediate precedent, statistics, will be analyzed. Finally, the type of power that emerges from this specific knowledge will be examined, especially in connection to ideas, also from Michel Foucault (1926-1984), of pastoral power and conduction through confession.Downloads
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How to Cite
Cigüela Sola J. (2017). Big Data, Knowledge-power and Digital Pastoral Practices: the Mythological Foundations of Authority. Foro Interno, 17, 35-54. https://doi.org/10.5209/FOIN.57204
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