Neoliberal capitalism
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Authors
Muellerleile, C
Robertson, SL
Publication Date
2018-06-12Journal Title
Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies
ISSN
1080-0727
Volume
25
Issue
1
Pages
187-216
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
AM
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Muellerleile, C., & Robertson, S. (2018). Neoliberal capitalism. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 25 (1), 187-216. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.41408
Abstract
© Indiana University Maurer School of Law. The social infrastructures that constitute both public and private administration are increasingly entangled with digital code, big data, and algorithms. While some argue these technologies have blown apart the strictures of bureaucratic order, we see more subtle changes at work. We suggest that far from a radical rupture, in today's digitizing society, there are strong traces of the logic and techniques of Max Weber's bureau; a foundational concept in his account of the symbiotic relationship between modernity, capitalism, and social order. We suggest the manner through which these techniques have shaped contemporary systems of social administration helps explain the remarkable legitimacy digital governance has acquired. We do this by exploring how digital technologies draw from, and give new substance to, the three key principles of Weber's theory of the bureau - efficiency, objectivity, and rationality. We argue that neoliberalism, or the widespread economization of politics, has conditioned the digital versions of these principles, not least by subordinating social ends to technical means. At the same time we argue that digitalism engenders the privatization of authority, not least through its "elective affinity" with market logics.
Identifiers
This record's DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.41408
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/294310
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