Digital Education Technology as a Mechanism of Control Societies and Surveillance Capitalism

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the philosophical implications of key assumptions within narratives of educational technology adoption. It draws upon Deleuze’s concept of the “control society” and Zuboff’s articulation of “surveillance capitalism” to argue against the assumptions that digital technologies are neutral instruments, that they primarily serve to enhance education, and that education is reducible to the data upon which these technologies depend. On the contrary, the paper argues that such technologies are mechanisms of power and control, primarily intended to render education, like other human experiences, into data that serve the interests of corporate profit-making within new forms of capitalism. Through this analysis, the paper intends to offer potential avenues for contestation of the increasing subjectification of education to digital technology.

Authors

• Austin J. Pickup, Aurora University

• Jessica Heybach, Western Michigan University