What Would Your Rating Be? Governing Security in a Post Truth Society

• In Event: New Approaches to Crime and Surveillance in a Post-Truth Society

Abstract

In our post truth society, we are facing the proliferation and extension of a scoring logic to all facets of life. Individuals are valued, ranked, and divided by means of consumer rankings and consumer scores. This means that public and private parties are creating all kinds of consumer scores that rank persons on everything, from the likelihood someone will keep his or her job to how likely a person is to commit a crime. Although ranking persons by scores is as old as human society, this paper will explore how consumer scores aim to produce ‘objective data’ about individuals and their behaviour for the purposes of knowing, controlling, and modifying behaviour. Moreover, the paper will show that ranking citizens creates the appearance of objectivity, but conceals the normative and subjective elements that make up someone’s rating. 

Authors

• Rik Peeters, CIDE Mexico-City

• Marc Schuilenburg, VU University Amsterdam