Political Behaviour/Sociology

F05(a) - Theorizing Tech, Capitalism, and Democracy / Théoriser la technologie, le capitalisme et la démocratie

Date: Jun 3 | Time: 03:30pm to 05:00pm | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Michael Wigginton (Carleton University)

Techno-Social Vanguardism: The Role of the California Ideology and Algorithmic Subjectivities: Hasmet Uluorta (Trent), Lawrence Quill (San José State University)
Abstract: While there has been comparatively little interest in the concept of the vanguard or vanguardism, recent work in the subject has shed new light on what was regarded until recently as a discredited concept. This paper examines the role of a techno-social elite as a present-day vanguard. We do so by qualifying and developing Philip Gray’s (2020) contribution to understanding vanguardism as a specific form of epistemologically-privileged extremism. In contrast to some versions of vanguardism that see technological development (‘objective science’) as the driving force behind ‘history’, or others that draw upon class, nation, and/or race, we propose an analysis of a techno-social elite as a vanguard. Our contention is that twenty-first century vanguardism of this type betrays a cultural and economic (rather than political) vision of the future that is both capitalist, illiberal, and totalizing. Prioritizing both the “Californian Ideology” and the maker-individualism as a consequence of Web 2.0, the techno-vanguard realign capitalism as techno-capitalism. In so doing, techno-social vanguardism amplifies hyper-capitalism as a natural framework within which (consumer) choice is extended to satisfy ever-changing individual desires. More profoundly, the ubiquity of these technologies intensifies the fragmentation of identities and the receptiveness of individuals to this fragmentation at every turn. In this way techno-social vanguardism promises to transform individual, social, and political arrangements moving society away from inefficient (reactive) and corrupt (political) practices to a socially just, equitable, and apolitical order grounded in the appearance of individual free choice and self-selected identity formation.

Selfless? Algorithmic Subjectivities in the Age of Techno-Capitalism: Hasmet Uluorta (Trent University), Lawrence Quill (San José State University)
Abstract: In 1934, Antonio Gramsci coined the term ‘Americanism’ to describe the transition to industrial society--a change, he insisted, that went beyond factory gates to the altering of identities. Today a new ‘Americanism’ is taking shape, away from industrial to digital society, through the pervasive use of machine learning and big data. Much of the literature emphasizes how these technologies are imposed on individuals, how machines, such as Siri and ChatGPT, act in our place. However, there is little discussion on its impact on identity or subjectivity. When all we need is an algorithmic nudge to bring us to readiness, when our tools know what we want before we do, how do we know whether our choices are our own? Lacanians note that we are driven not only by our conscious decisions, but also our unconscious ones. Our choices do not answer the question ‘do I want this?’, but more profoundly ‘what does the big Other (e.g., capitalist market civilization) want of me?’. What happens, then, when our choices are increasingly triggered by pre-cognitive technologies? How is it possible to be a knowledgeable and engaged citizen in this transformative era? This research sets out to explore these questions to better understand the undeniable impact techno-capitalism and algorithms are having on subjectivities and consider these impacts with a near-future set to have humans outnumbered by agentic generative AIs acting with and in our place.