Edward Elgar Publishing Rise of the Digital Technocracy: Global Power and Local Resistance in a Post-Democratic World

This illuminating book explores the increasing super-concentration of wealth among select individuals and their networks alongside the growing trend towards technocratic surveillance in contemporary democracies. It suggests that tech conglomerates are occupied not only with making money at unprecedented levels, but also with using it to shape political, social and cultural processes according to their preferred ideologies. Contributing authors address the timely themes of Net Zero, smart cities and the transformative influence of AI to build an analysis of the current path to digital technocracy. They adopt an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the emergence of a concentrated global economic elite and examine key questions pertaining to manifestations of technologically enhanced population management strategies. Incorporating national case studies across China, Iran, the USA and elsewhere, Rise of the Digital Technocracy evaluates how the digitally engendered fear and suspicion embedded in the deployment of evolving technological tools are used as means of undermining and assuming increasing control of political systems. Innovative in its inter-connected analysis of global elites and technocracies, this book is essential reading for scholars and students of sociology, social policy, political theory and human-oriented data science. Professionals in bureaucracies, think-tanks and policy making will also benefit from its theoretical and practical insights.