The death of the educative subject? The limits of criticality under datafication

Abstract

Amidst ongoing technological and social change, this article explores the implications for critical education that result from a data-driven model of digital governance. The article argues that traditional notions of critique which rely upon the deconstruction and analysis of texts are increasingly redundant in the age of datafication, where the production of information is automated and hidden. The article explains the concept of the ‘educative subject’ within the liberal education tradition, with specific focus on the role of critique and reflexivity in their becoming. It explores how the logics and practices of datafication and automation pose unprecedented challenges to the educative subject, examining three features in particular: the creation of data subjects; the rise of correlationalism; and the move from representation to operationalisation. The article concludes by outlining a research agenda to address the existential challenges posed by data education.

Keywords:

• Datafication
• data subjects
• correlationalism
• post-representation
• data education
• critical pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 http://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julian Sefton-Green

Julian Sefton-Green is Professor of New Media Education at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.He has researched and written widely on many aspects of media education, new technologies, creativity, digital cultures and informal learning.

Luci Pangrazio

Luci Pangrazio is a senior lecturer in literacy and language at Deakin University, Australia. Her research focuses on datafication, digital and data literacies, personal data and privacy, and young people’s digital worlds.