Il realismo della sorveglianza e le politiche dell’immaginazione: non c’è alternativa? Translated by Philip Di Salvo
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24434/j.scoms.2019.02.003Keywords:
surveillance realism, social imaginary, Edward Snowden, datafication, data justiceAbstract
This article engages with the interplay between data-driven surveillance and contemporary social imaginaries, using research based on the aftermath of the Snowden leaks. Drawing on Mark Fisher’s use of the term “realism” in relation to capitalist realism, I advance the argument here that public debate and response to the Snowden leaks indicate a similar ‘‘pervasive atmosphere” that comes to regulate thought and action, in which the active normalization of surveillance infrastructures limits the possibilities of even imagining alternatives – a condition I describe as “surveillance realism”. In so doing, the article posits a way to reveal the contingency and construction of our current digital environment, advancing a critique suitable for an emancipatory politics.
Translated by Philip Di Salvo
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