THE AGE OF
SURVEILLANCE
CAPITALISM
The Fight for a Human Future at the
New Frontier of Power
SHOSHANA ZUBOFF
Copyright © 2019 by Shoshana Zuboff
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Zuboff, Shoshana, 1951- author.
Title: The age of surveillance capitalism : the fight for a human future at the new frontier of power /
Shoshana Zuboff.
Description: First edition. |New York : PublicAffairs, 2018. |Includes bibliographical references and
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018003901 (print) |LCCN 2018039998 (ebook) |ISBN 9781610395700 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781610395694 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Consumer behavior—Data processing. |Consumer profiling—Data processing. |
Information technology—Social aspects.
Classification: LCC HF5415.32 (ebook) |LCC HF5415.32 .Z83 2018 (print) |DDC 306.3-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018003901
ISBNs: 978-1-61039-569-4 (hardcover), 978-1-61039-570-0 (ebook)
LSC-C
10987654321
Behavioral Value In thiscycle, only
behavioral data
Data
D. el nve st me nt Exhaust needed for service
improvements are
| rendered. These are
Cuc le i: reinvested in the
) = user experience.
Rendered E
Behavior „Teit.
Analutics
Shoshone Zubari
Figure 1: The Behavioral Value Reinvestment Cycle
= Surveillance capitalism begins with the discovery of
The D ISCOVer U behavioral surplus. More behavioral data are
: rendered than required for service improvements.
of Be havi O ral This surplus feeds machine intelligence - the new
means of production - that fabricates predictions of
Surp |US user behavior. These products are sold to business
customers in new behavioral futures markets. The
Behavioral Value Reinvestment Cycle is
subordinated to this new logic.
voll)
Markets Prediction
in Future Products
Rendered Ou Ree Y
Surveillance Behavior <^ NXA X TheNew
Revenues
1 Production
Analytics
Service
Shoshana Zuboff
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Improvements
Figure 2: The Discovery of Behavioral Surplus
Th e D nam |e Surveillance capitalism’s master motion is the
U accumulation of new sources of behavioral
surplus with more predictive power. The goal
of Be havio ral is predictions comparable to guaranteed
outcomes in real-life behavior. Extraction
S U rp |US begins online, but the prediction imperative
increases the momentum, driving extraction
ACC umu |ati on toward new sources in the real world.
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The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
Figure 3: The Dynamic of Behavioral Surplus Accumulation
TWO SPECIES OF POWER
Comparative
Totalitarianism Instrumentarianism
Elements
Central Metaphor Big Brother Big Other
Totalistic Vision Total Possession Total Certainty
Perfection of Automation of
Transcendent Society/Species Market/ Society
Purpose Defined by for the Certainty of
Class or Race Guaranteed Outcomes
Control of the cone ol Hie
Locus of Power Division of Learning
Means of Violence
in Society
Hierarchical Ownership of
Means of Power Administration the Means of
of Terror Behavioral Modification
Dispossession of
Foundational Arbitrary Terror; Behavioral Surplus for
Mechanisms Murder Computation, Control,
Prediction
Theory and Theory Legitimates Practice Conceals
Practice Practice Theory
Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
Figure 4: Two Species of Power
Comparative
Totalitarianism Instrumentarianism
Elements
Ideological Style Political Religion Radical Indifference
Atomization and
Division; Otherization of
Social Strategies
Total Believers or Predictable Organisms
Total Enemies
Hive Mind;
In-Group, Out-Group
Core Social Social Comparison
for Conformity
Processes for Confluence
and Obedience
and Predictability
Unit of Social Mass Population
Production (Political) (Statistical)
““Re-Education”’ Behavioral Modification
Vector of
Exerts Control Exerts Control
Social Influence
from Inside-Out from Outside-In
Social
Radical Isolation Radical Connection
Patterning
Absolute Loyalty Absolute Transparency
Demands on
through Subjugation to through Subjugation to
Individual
State/Species Guaranteed Outcomes
Primary Source of
Individual Thwarted Identity Thwarted Effectiveness
Attachment to Power
Primary Mode of
Individual Identification Dependency
Attachment to Power
Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
