The Informational Logic of Human Rights : Networked Imaginaries in the Cybernetic Age

Shows how digital capitalism has shaped human rights practices What happens to the cultural politics of human rights when atrocities are rendered calculable, abuses are transformed into data, and victims become vectors? As human rights organisations have increasingly embraced information technologies this 'datafication' of rights has become both a reality and a pressing concern, one inextricably tangled up with questions regarding the broader political valences of human rights. Combining contemporary social and cultural theory with archival research and original ethnographic work, Josh Bowsher resituates recent critiques of human rights within ongoing theoretical discussions concerning informational capitalism, digital culture and the politics of data. Critically analysing the contemporary human rights movement as an informational politics, Bowsher provides a new conceptual agenda for both exploring and overcoming the limits of human rights in an era shaped by the data flows, network infrastructures and informational logic of late capitalism. Josh Bowsher is Lecturer in Sociology at Brunel University.

Author: Joshua Bowsher

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Publication Date: Aug 31, 2024

Number of Pages: NA pages

Language: English

Binding: Paperback

ISBN-10: 1399509918

ISBN-13: 9781399509916