The Political Economy of Surveillance Capitalism : Policy, Regulation, and Ethical Considerations

This book presents a comprehensive overview of technologically generated economic activity that heavily relies on automated systems that collect, use and monetize personal data. It captures the essence of surveillance capitalism and how it is practiced in the era of the fourth industrial revolution.

Surveillance capitalism is a political economy concept that describes the phenomenon of corporations’ widespread collection and commodification of personal data. We can term this as an economy based on convenience to each customer centered on their personal data. This book presents a comprehensive overview of technologically generated economic activity that heavily relies on automated systems that collect, use and monetize personal data. It captures the essence of surveillance capitalism and how it is practiced in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, the idea of financialization, and how the economic system integrates with technology. The book examines the use of personal data through the adoption of advanced technologies, ranging from big data, generative artificial intelligence, networks, the Internet of Things, and the cloud, among others. It focuses on the nexus between personal data, advanced technologies, and the political economy of capitalism. Thus, it gauges the growing significance of advanced technologies within an economic context through a multidisciplinary approach that considers the technological, economic, political, communication, and business fields and how each is either affecting or being affected by the changes being witnessed. Further, the book considers how policy regulation keeps up with the technological advancements rapidly infiltrating the economic scene and reviews the ethical implications of the commodification of personal data in light of policy regulations that governments should consider. With the growing relevance of technology in everyday activities, the book comes at a significant time, helping to portray how far capitalism has come and forecasting its future in the highly digitalized world in which it exists.