Denunciatory technology: forging publics through populism and secrecy

an article by Matthew D. Sanscartier (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada) published in Economy and Society Volume 46 Issue 1 (2017)

Abstract

This paper theorizes contemporary institutionalized forms of denunciation, or what I call ‘denunciatory technologies’. Denunciatory technologies are mechanisms that allow citizens to report one another to the state for a wide range of wrongdoing, such as welfare fraud.

The scarce literature on such initiatives relies heavily on concepts of neoliberalism to explain their emergence and operation.

I first argue that a focus on neoliberalism fails to recognize these technologies as a sophisticated type of statecraft that promotes public sensibilities.

I then offer a more robust account of denunciatory technologies. Rather than relying on an analysis of neoliberalism, I argue that these technologies fuse the policing of political criminals like the ‘welfare cheat’ to the very notion of ‘public good’, and refract vertical populist energies back onto the population.

I conclude that, through such technologies, publics become an integral tool in their own governance.

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