نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
This article aims to analyze Google’s digital biopolitics from a Foucauldian perspective and answer the question of how the company’s algorithmic power redefines digital subjects and shapes new boundaries of power. The present study attempts to address the gap in Foucauldian literature by examining the genealogy of historical ruptures in Google’s algorithms (from link-based to AI-based approaches).
This study was conducted with a qualitative-descriptive approach, using Foucauldian genealogy, along with critical discourse analysis. Data were collected through library documents, official Google announcements, and reliable online sources.
The findings of the study show that Google’s algorithms have undergone significant ruptures in four major periods of evolution. These disruptions include the shift from objective metrics (links) to subjective signals (user behavior), the emergence of the attention economy, the spread of data-driven surveillance, and finally algorithmic subjectification. The findings also suggest that Google’s internal values (personalization, commercial interests, external pressures) have led to biases in search results and the reproduction of cultural-political inequalities. The research results emphasize that Google acts not only as a search engine, but also as an institution of digital biopower that, by transforming users into algorithmic subjects, has simultaneously turned them into monitored objects and passive consumers. This asymmetric power, by imposing an ideology of subjectivity, immerses users in the illusion of autonomy and highlights the necessity of resistance to this digital biopolitics. The innovation of the article lies in the application of Foucault's genealogical method to the historical-critical analysis of Google's biopolitics and its connection to the redefinition of the subject in the data age.Keywords: Digital Biopolitics, Google, Foucauldian Genealogy, Algorithmic Power, Subjectivity, Historical Rupture.
کلیدواژهها English