Where is the ‘struggle’ in communications for social progress?

Abstract

The future of human society and its radical reorganization is contingent upon how the right to cultural autonomy and cognitive justice can be realized. Definitions of social progress must therefore pay close attention to the contradictions of contemporary information–communication structures. Our datafied subject positions need to be unpacked for an understanding of why privacy is a social, and not just individual, concern. The proprietization of social interactions data and marketization of digital intelligence exhort a critical examination not only of data practices but also of data ownership. Also, the contemporary public sphere seems to promote voice, but without agency. To participate, therefore, does not seem to necessarily imply political equality. An urgent reorientation of technology governance – away from the rhetoric of openness and transparency and towards citizen accountability – is needed. Institutional norms for the digital age must explore commons-based ownership frameworks for data and promote the conditions where free expression is seen as the ability of communities to self-define their ideas of social, cultural, economic and political progress.