Deleuze and the Society of Control: Neoliberalism and Financial Capitalism

By Emil Madeiros

Gilles Deleuze was a French philosopher who helped rethink how we understand power and society. In his writings, he talked about the idea of a "society of control" to explain how forms of power and surveillance have changed in today's world. Deleuze, along with Félix Guattari, criticized the old ways of organizing society and suggested a new way to understand how control works today.

Disciplinary Society vs. Control Society

Before control societies, there were the so-called "disciplinary societies," which existed between the 18th and 20th centuries. In these societies, people were kept in enclosed spaces, like schools, prisons, hospitals, and factories, where they were constantly watched and controlled. Michel Foucault used the idea of the Panopticon to explain this, which is a type of structure where one person can watch many others all the time, creating very strong control over people's behavior.

This model of control changes with the societies of control because control is no longer in closed spaces, but in open spaces where people can move freely, yet are still constantly watched. Nowadays, we are always being monitored, whether through security cameras on the streets, the tracking of our smartphones, or data collection on the internet. It is a control that becomes invisible, but still very effective, one that we internalize and that is always present.

How is this type of control related to modern capitalism?

Mainly through neoliberalism and financial capitalism. Deleuze explains that today's capitalism is no longer focused on producing material goods, as it was in the past. Instead, it is centered on financial speculation and stock trading, which means that control over people no longer happens in factories but in financial markets and cyberspace. Modern capitalism operates on a global scale, with large corporations and financial systems working in real-time using digital technologies.

With this, the society of control turns people into "dividuels," meaning individuals who are constantly watched and controlled through data. Instead of visible institutions imposing rules, control is invisible and digital, operating behind the screens of our devices. This creates a false sense of freedom, because we may think we are free to act, but we are actually being monitored and manipulated all the time.

Neoliberalism and financial capitalism have made control more subtle, yet still very strong. While the market promises false freedom, it is establishing a form of invisible and omnipresent domination that affects all areas of life.