Ideologies and Discourses on Digital Transformation and AI

Abstract

The panel investigates how political ideologies and discourses have been developing conflicting views of digital transformation and artificial intelligence (Fuchs 2019; Mazzucato et al. 2022). Political ideologies are a fruitful perspective to understand how views on digital platforms and AI reshape the identities of political and politically oriented actors (van Dijk 2000), including but not limited to political parties, social movements, policy-makers and civil society organisations. Relatedly, political discourses allow to gauge how different imaginaries about digital transformation (Bory 2020) support or challenge, among others, corporates’ innovations, regulatory agendas, and organisational digitalisation. Papers in the panel will theorise and explore how and under which conditions different ideologies seek to politicise or de-politicise issues surrounding AI and Digital Transformation. Contributions will address the topic theoretically and empirically, with particular attention to theorising and assessing ideological and discursive variations among types of actors, geographical positions (Global North and Global South), and models of economic and democratic relations. The analyses by authors will stem from different disciplinary and theoretical approaches, including, but not limited to, party politics, public policy, gender studies, and critical digital studies. Contributions to the panel will help answer compelling research questions, including but not limited to the following: ▪️ What ideological views underline different models of digitalisation and AI implementation, and how do these views impact liberty and equality? ▪️ What are the functions of state actors’ ideas and discourses in framing the digital transformation and AI? ▪️ How do political and political-oriented actors interact to generate new views on digital platforms? ▪️ How do ideologies of digital transformation and AI contribute to reproducing domination or enable liberation? Ultimately, contributions to the panel advance knowledge on digital policy-making and digital politics to explore the relations between ideas and practices of the digital.

Title	Details
Is Digitalisation an Issue in Party Competition?	View Paper Details
Deepfakes: AI, misogyny, and the need for an intersectional feminist lens	View Paper Details
The UK’s National AI Strategy: The Governance of AI, Depoliticization and Neoliberal Ideology	View Paper Details
The Subscription Subject and Neo-Feudalism	View Paper Details
Dimensions of Digital Futures: A Comparative Analysis of Party Discourse on Digitalisation and AI	View Paper Details