Behavioural surplus
Zuboff (2015) describes data beyond service needs being turned into prediction products.
Instrumentarian power
Zuboff (2019a) contrasts nudging behaviour with the panopticon and (2019b) calls for collective action.
Related theories and critiques
Srnicek (2017) on platforms, Couldry and Mejias (2019), Sadowski (2019); Morozov (2019) says Zuboff misses capitalism's logic and platform labour.
FAQ
- What is it in simple terms?
- Free apps profit by predicting and selling what you will do next.
- How is it different from ads?
- It aims to modify behaviour, not just predict it.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Zuboff, S. (2015). Big other: Surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information civilization. Journal of Information Technology, 30(1), 75–89. The first scholarly definition, introducing 'Big Other' and behavioural surplus.
- Zuboff, S. (2019a). The age of surveillance capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. PublicAffairs. The full statement on prediction markets and instrumentarian power.
- Zuboff, S. (2019b). Surveillance capitalism and the challenge of collective action. New Labor Forum, 28(1), 10–29. On collective action and regulatory responses.
- Srnicek, N. (2017). Platform capitalism. Polity Press. Analyses data extraction as a platform business model.
- Couldry, N., & Mejias, U. A. (2019). Data colonialism: Rethinking big data's relation to the contemporary subject. Television & New Media, 20(4), 336–349. A neighbouring framing of data extraction as colonialism.
- Sadowski, J. (2019). When data is capital: Datafication, accumulation, and extraction. Big Data & Society, 6(1). Treats data as a form of capital driving accumulation.
- Morozov, E. (2019). Capitalism's new clothes. The Baffler. A critical review arguing Zuboff neglects capitalism's general logic.