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Surveillance as biopower
Groot Wassink, C.T.H. (2025) Surveillance as biopower.
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| Abstract: | This paper examines the development of the corporate surveillance discourse in both the EU and the US from 2013 to 2025. It focuses on how biopower is exercised through surveillance narratives. The analysis applies Foucauldian theory and combines this with contemporary theories of surveillance capitalism. By using case studies such as the Snowden revelations, the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper demonstrates that safety and privacy are considered competing interests in both the EU and the U.S. It argues that the expansion of surveillance is legitimized through crises, and the normalization of increasingly intrusive data collection methods. Additionally, the article contrasts the European rights-based approach to privacy with the US’s market-based approach to privacy. The paper concludes by discussing the dangers of surveillance and provides policy recommendations for safeguarding privacy norms. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 70 social sciences in general |
| Programme: | Management Society and Technology BSc (56654) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/107461 |
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