Information technologies, control and panopticon: Towards a Deleuzian approach

Authors

  • Aurélie Leclercq-Vandelannoitte Associate Professor IESEG Lille
  • Henri Isaac Associate Dean for Faculty Rouen Business School

Keywords:

contrôle technologique, panoptique, Foucault, Deleuze, technologies mobiles

Abstract

The concept of panoptic developed by Michel Foucault has been widely used in research in information systems (IS) and organizational theory to describe the recent forms of organizational control that developed as a result of massive use of technologies of information and communication technologies (ICT). This framework has long been very relevant, but the new characteristics of ICT (including ubiquity) lead us to rethink the organizational control framework. This article applies the work of G. Deleuze to propose a new assessment of control systems, incorporating the use of ubiquitous technologies and new space-time in which they operate. To confront this framework to the organizational reality, a case study is conducted in a consulting firm in the banking industry. The case study highlights a tangle of controls, which illustrates the importance of Deleuze's approach, without definitively rejecting Foucault's panoptic approach, suggesting a power of two interlocking perspectives.

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Published

2013-05-27

How to Cite

Leclercq-Vandelannoitte, A., & Isaac, H. (2013). Information technologies, control and panopticon: Towards a Deleuzian approach. Systèmes d’Information Et Management (French Journal of Management Information Systems), 18(2), 9–36. Retrieved from https://revuesim.org/index.php/sim/article/view/485

Issue

Section

Empirical research