On the Possibilities of a Political Theory of Algorithms
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6350951 |
|---|---|
| Authors | D Panagia (0000-0002-4481-7405, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 109-133 |
| Publication date | 2021-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0090591720959853 |
| OpenAlex | W3088893486 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 18 |
This essay asks how we might articulate a political theory of algorithms. To do so, I propose a political ontology of the algorithm dispositif that elaborates how algorithms arrange the movement of energies in space and time, and how they do so automatically. This force of arrangement is what I refer to as the dispositional power of algorithms that I identify as a political physics of vital processes. The essay is divided into three sections. The first provides readers of Political Theory with a discussion of three notable works in the field of critical algorithm studies relevant to a political theory of algorithms. The subsequent sections of the essay elaborate an understanding of the political ontology of the algorithm dispositif by focusing (first) on the difference that a virtual ontology introduces to our political reflections and (second) on the cybernetic operation of negative feedback that I identify as foundational to understanding an algorithm’s political physics of vital processes. I conclude that any political theory engagement with technical media can’t simply rest on an epistemic analysis of the normative effects of media but must also pursue an investigation into a medium’s modes of existence in the world
Algorithm · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Normative · Ontology · Physics · Political communication · Political methodology · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Pure mathematics · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · Systems theory in political science · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Cybernetics and Technology in Society · Digital Media and Philosophy · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy
Foucauldian Biopolitics and Homo virtualis in the Context of Anticipatory Governance, Algorithms, and Transhumanism
Dialectics of training
Politics Is a Language Google Will Never Know
Beyond the Digital Public Sphere
Erasing Agonism
The Subatomic Person
Flood the Zone with Shit
Algorithmic conservation in a changing climate
Moving beyond settlement
Retracted
Freedom and the Machine
Algorithmic models through a representational lens
Political Theory of the Digital Constellation
The Political Theory of Data
On Political Theory and Large Language Models
Spectacle, Surveillance, and the Ironies of Visual Politics in the Age of Autonomous Images
Security, digital border technologies, and immigration admissions
Android existence
| Unique citing works | 18 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,6 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 18 |