B3584 - STORIA E POLITICHE DEL DIGITALE

Learning outcomes

The course aims to critically analyze the origin of digital platforms and their political role in contemporary society. As new infrastructures of everyday life, platforms are the latest changes that brought circulation and logistics to the central core of capitalism. During the course, we will deal with some particularly relevant changes that occurred in the last years, which concern the impact that platforms have had on work, subjects, urban spaces, and, above all, we will analyze their political role, a crucial aspect to reach the dimension of change they have produced. A concluding part will focus precisely on the attempts of local or European institutions to legislate within this new and rapidly expanding world

Course contents

Course Syllabus:

History and politicis of Logistics

The "Industrial Revolutions"

From the "Logistics revolution" to the "Platform Revolution";

Capitalism 4.0;

What are digital platforms?

Platforms and infrastructure: similarities and differences;

The power of Platforms: technic, aesthetic, egemony;

Platforms and the State

Platforms and the State (II): the Cloud and its infrastructures;

Platforms and the State (III): sovereignty of the clouds;

The ecological footprint of digital infrastructures;

The Social Dilemma;

Algorithimcs Subjectivities;

Internet between platforms, data and surveillance;

Platforms and the Urban;

De-Westernize Platform: a global look at platforms;

Attempts at legislation 1: Urban and national cases;

Attempts at legislation 2: DSA and DMA;

Artificial? Intelligence?;

Readings/Bibliography

Testi di riferimento per l'esame orale:

• S. Zuboff, Capitalismo della sorveglianza, Luiss University Press, 2019.

• N. Srnicek, Capitalismo digitale: Google, Facebook, Amazon e la nuova economia del web, Luiss University Press; 2017.

Altre letture suggerite:

• AA. VV. (2024), Disruptive Digitalisation and Platforms, Londra, Routledge.

• B. Bratton, The Stack. On Software and Sovereignty. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2015.

• F. G. Blancato & M. Carr (18 Dec 2024), The trust deficit.
  EU bargaining for access and control over cloud infrastructures, in "Journal of European Public
  Policy".

• K. Crawford (2021), Né intelligente, né artificiale. Il lato oscuro dell'AI, Bologna, il Mulino.
  

• N. Cuppini, M. Frapporti, S. Mezzadra, M. Pirone (a cura di) (2024), Capitalism in the Platform Age, Berlino, Springer, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-49147-4
  

• Into the Black Box (a cura di) (2021), Capitalismo 4.0. Genealogia della rivoluzione digitale, Meltemi, Milano.

• Into the Black Box (2024), Futuro Presente. I piani di Amazon, Roma, Red Star Press.

• L. Floridi (2020), The Fight for Digital Sovereignty: What It Is, and Why. It Matters, Especially for the EU, Philosophy & Technology, 33:pp. 369–378.

• M. Frapporti (2024), Governo Materiale. Il potere politico delle infrastrutture, Milano, Meltemi.
  

• S. Mezzadra e B. Neilson (2021), Operazioni del Capitale, Manifestolibri, Roma.

• M. Pasquinelli (2025), Nell'occio dell'algoritmo. Storia e critica dell'intelligenzia artificiale, Roma, Carocci.

• S. Pieranni (2020), Red Mirror. Il nostro futuro si scrive in Cina, Laterza, Roma-Bari.

• J. Van Dijck, T. Poell e M. de Waal, The Platform Society. Public Values in a Connective World. Oxford – New York: Oxford University Press, 2018

Teaching methods

Lectures and Seminars

Assessment methods

Oral Exam.

Students attending classwork (at least 50%) could write a "Final Paper" (4000 words). For those who chose the paper, final mark will be due to multiple elements that will be described during the course. Final paper must be submitted 10 days before the exam date.

Teaching tools

Readings may be complemented with other sources, such as videos and images. Each lesson will have supporting slides. Guest lecturers may be invited.

Office hours

See the website of Mattia Frapporti