Transparency, Society and Subjectivity

Beschreibung

This book critically engages with the idea of transparency whose ubiquitous demand stands in stark contrast to its lack of conceptual clarity. The book carefully examines this notion in its own right, traces its emergence in Early Modernity and analyzes its omnipresence in contemporary rhetoric. Today, transparency has become a catchword outplaying other Enlightenment values like empowerment, sincerity and the notion of a public sphere. In a suspicious manner, transparency is entangled in the discourses on power, surveillance, and self-exposure. Bringing together prominent scholars from the emerging field of Critical Transparency Studies, the book offers a map of the various sites at which transparency has become virulent and connects the dots between past and present. By studying its appearances in today’s hyper-mediated economies of information and by linking it back to its historical roots, the book analyzes transparency and its discontents, and scrutinizes the reasons why it hasbecome the imperative of a supposedly post-ideological age.

This book critically engages with the idea of transparency whose ubiquitous demand stands in stark contrast to its lack of conceptual clarity. The book carefully examines this notion in its own right, traces its emergence in Early Modernity and analyzes its omnipresence in contemporary rhetoric. Today, transparency has become a catchword outplaying other Enlightenment values like empowerment, sincerity and the notion of a public sphere. In a suspicious manner, transparency is entangled in the discourses on power, surveillance, and self-exposure. Bringing together prominent scholars from the emerging field of Critical Transparency Studies, the book offers a map of the various sites at which transparency has become virulent and connects the dots between past and present. By studying its appearances in today’s hyper-mediated economies of information and by linking it back to its historical roots, the book analyzes transparency and its discontents, and scrutinizes the reasons why it hasbecome the imperative of a supposedly post-ideological age.

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Emmanuel Alloa

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“The book is a very welcome contribution to transparency literature. … I can warmly recommend reading the book to anyone who is interested in our current culture of transparency, its promises, and in particular its perils.” (Ida Koivisto, Res Publica, Vol. 25, 2019)
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“Incessantly invoked as a necessary condition of all aspects of democratic life, transparency is being hailed as a top priority in public management, corporate business, and international relations. But the more we critically examine what transparency actually means, the more it emerges as an opaque, and perhaps even occluding, concept. By offering a bold and comprehensive picture of the new field of Critical Transparency Studies, this collection of essays is certain to become the standard reference for years to come.” (Giovanna Borradori, Professor of Philosophy at Vassar College, USA)

“This important collection historicizes and criticizes transparency, one of neoliberalism’s most ubiquitous norms. As the contributors draw out the normative presumptions of the concept, they alert us to its regulatory effects, its implications for surveillance and subjectivation. Rather than an ideal of democratic freedom, transparency mobilizes distrust and commands exposure. Crucial reading for anyone interested in critical assessment of our present values. ” (Jodi Dean, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, USA, and author of Publicity's Secret: How Technoculture Capitalizes on Democracy, 2002)

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