Data colonialism continues the older colonialist economic and social order.
Evidence
To start, we must recall what made historical colonialism distinctive. Colonialism was a form of economic and social organization dominated by major colonial powers such as Britain, France, Spain, and later the United States. It is now usually regarded as historically closed, ended by the decolonizing movements of the later twentieth century, although in politics and other areas, neocolonial forms of power live on (a more detailed discussion of historical colonialism can be found in the interlude following chapter 2). Our interest in this book is in the continuities from that older colonialism to a new form of colonialism—data colonialism. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 63
Categorization
- DEFINE: Distinguishes the book’s continuity-tracing project from the common view that colonialism historically closed with twentieth-century decolonization.
- QUESTION: How exactly do neocolonial ‘forms of power’ that live on in politics connect to the data-colonial extraction the book studies?
- XREF: connects to: Data colonialism’s continuity is functional, not literal, with historical colonialism. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 46; Historical colonialism had four structural components that data colonialism may replicate. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 64; Data colonialism is a transitional phase preceding a new extractive order. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 354 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Data colonialism can only be understood within the longer history of colonialism and capitalism
#expands(0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 57 - Data colonialism fuses economic and cognitive power in an order as durable as capitalism
#corroborates(0.82) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 30 - Data colonialism is a transitional phase preceding a new extractive order.
#complicates(0.80) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 354