Surveillance Capitalism and the Expansion of Social Control

The expansion of data-driven technologies and corporate digital infrastructures has significantly transformed contemporary mechanisms of surveillance and social control. Increasingly, control over personal information, behavioural prediction, and social monitoring is exercised not only by states but also by private corporations operating within global systems of surveillance capitalism. Through algorithmic governance, data extraction, predictive analytics, facial recognition technologies, and behavioural manipulation, individuals are subjected to continuous observation and regulation in both physical and virtual spaces. This session seeks to critically examine how surveillance capitalism reshapes power relations, autonomy, privacy, and democratic freedoms in turbulent societies. It invites scholarly contributions exploring the intersections between technology, governance, corporate power, consumer culture, and social regulation. The session further encourages discussions on ethical concerns surrounding consent, transparency, digital inequality, algorithmic discrimination, and resistance to surveillance regimes. Contributions focusing on the implications of surveillance for marginalized populations, political dissent, labour relations, and citizenship are particularly welcome. By situating surveillance within broader socio-economic and political transformations, this session aims to foster critical dialogue on the changing nature of social control and the implications of technologically mediated governance in contemporary global society.