The Governing of the Algorithm – A Sociology of the Art of Algorithmic Government

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Robert Seyfert
• Subject Area: Sociological Theory
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 510641387

This research project will contribute to the emerging studies on the art of algorithmic government. It is situated at the intersection of Science & Technology Studies (STS) and Governmentality Studies. In this context, the term government is broadly conceived, and exceeds a strictly political definition. It refers to social fields, technologies and types of individual actions that aim at the governance of the self and others. The art of government is concerned with the reflections on the best forms of governing, and the algorithmic art of government contributes to such reflections by including algorithmic procedures as decisive elements of governing. While existing studies tend to focus on how algorithms govern people and societies, i.e., on algorithms as the subject of governance, this research project also examines the different ways in which algorithms themselves become governed and regulated, i.e., as objects of government. Empirically, the research project applies the analysis of sociotechnical imaginaries of governing algorithms in two different ways. It analyses the regulation of algorithms and the imaginaries of governing with algorithmic technologies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants