On Digital Fetishism: A Critique of the Big Data Paradigm
Author: Andrea Miconi
Publisher: Critical Sociology, Volume 50, Issue 4-5, July 2024, Pages 629-642
Date: 10 October 2023
Abstract
The article takes into exam the current literature about Big Data and data capitalism, from the perspective of the critical Internet theory. Particular attention will be placed to the ideas of data exploitation and raw data, which will prove to betray a form of digital fetishism: in short, the focus on the final results of the production process, rather than on the social relations by which the very same process is fueled.