The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

By: Shoshana Zuboff

An exposé of the unprecedented form of power called “surveillance capitalism,” and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior

“Groundbreaking, magisterial, alarming.” – Financial Times

The heady optimism of the Internet’s early days has turned dark. Surveillance capitalism has deepened inequality, sown societal chaos, and undermined democracy.

The fight for a human future has never been more urgent. Shoshana Zuboff argues that we still have the power to decide what kind of world we want to live in: Will we allow surveillance capitalism to wrap us in its iron cage as it enriches the few and subjugates the many? Or will we demand the rights and laws that place this rogue power under the democratic rule of law? Only democracy can ensure that the vast new capabilities of the digital era are harnessed to the advancement of humanity. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is a deeply original, exquisitely reasoned, and spell binding examination of our emerging information civilization and the life and death choices we face.

Critic reviews

An International Bestseller

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

A Financial Times Best Book of the Year

A Sunday Times (UK) Best Business Book of the Year

Selected by Barack Obama, Zadie Smith (in the Wall Street Journal), Jia Tolentino (in the
New Yorker), Elif Shafak (in the Guardian), and Ana Botin (in Bloomberg) as one of the
best books of 2019

Finalist for the Financial Times/McKinsey Best Book of the Year Award

“If a book’s importance is gauged by how effectively it describes the world we’re in, and how much potential it has to change said world, then in my view it’s easily the most important book to be published this century... Zuboff is concerned with the largest act of capitalist colonisation ever attempted, but the colonisation is of our minds, our behaviour, our free will, our very selves. Yet it’s not an anti‑tech book. It’s anti unregulated capitalism, red in tooth and claw. It’s really this generation’s Das Kapital.”—Zadie Smith

“Extraordinarily intelligent... Absorbing Zuboff’s methodical determination, the way she pieces together sundry examples into this comprehensive work of scholarship and synthesis, requires patience, but the rewards are considerable ‑ a heightened sense of awareness, and a deeper appreciation of what’s at stake. A business model that seeks growth by cataloging our ‘every move, emotion, utterance and desire’ is too radical to be taken for granted. As Zuboff repeatedly says near the end of the book, ‘It is not O.K.’”—Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

“The rare volume that puts a name on a problem just as it becomes critical... This book’s major contribution is to give a name to what’s happening, to put it in cultural and historical perspective, and to ask us to pause long enough to think about the future and how it might be different from today.”—Frank Rose, Wall Street Journal

“Many adjectives could be used to describe Shoshana Zuboff’s latest book: groundbreaking, magisterial, alarming, alarmist, preposterous. One will do: unmissable... As we grope around in the darkness trying to grasp the contours of our digital era, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism shines a searing light on how this latest revolution is transforming our economy, politics, society ‑ and lives.”—John Thornhill, Financial Times

“One of the most important criticisms of the power of Big Tech.”—Rana Foroohar, Financial Times

great history and framing of our current era

the book is long, but worthwhile and though occasionally repetitive and heavy on theory (Foucault, Derrida, Sartre ... ) the book succeeds in providing a framework for this new type of capitalism. A must read for thoughtful individuals in our generation.

Seminal work on privacy in the digital age

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is a masterwork critique on the dangers of unregulated, digital capitalism. Zuboff underscores the importance of social and political resistance to ‘march of inevitability’ that sacrificing our digital privacy for the sake of “progress” represents. This is a seminal work that will be studied for decades to come.

Eye opening and helpful for framing current events

I grew up in an analog world, and I bought my first cell phone when I landed my first job after undergraduate studies. The pace of technology change is swift and accelerating, and at midcareer I feel disoriented in the professional world. This book names some of the new games and shines light on their objectives, major players, and strategies to date. It feels like a good time to discuss the effects of surveillance capitalism on humanity and consider other combinations of objectives and strategies going forward.

Best listen to with perception filters

An excellent run down of the current commercialization of user Internet interaction by a clearly anti-capitalist and strong pro-privacy advocate. Nice facts that need to heard with filter to screen out her political opinions

Big Other or BFF

Shoshana Zuboff, a social psychologist trained at Harvard, is a brilliant author and deep thinker (her undergraduate work in philosophy was done at the prestigious philosophy department at the University of Chicago) who asks three important questions for the digital age - who knows; who decides; and, who decides who decides. These inquiries, which are omnipresent throughout this book, pertain to the ubiquitous presence of digital data gathering, analysis and monetization that affect all of us by influencing what we buy, what news we see, who we vote for and so much more. This is long recording, but very much worth the time it takes to listen carefully and understand just how we got to where we are and where we might end up if we are not mindful of our humanity in the face of constant surveillance.