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Michel Freitag developed a ground-breaking sociological theory synthesizing the thought of sociology's founders into the form of a dialectical sociology that conceives of the symbolic as ontological to social reality. After outlining his conceptualization of the historical evolution of society through its 'modes of reproduction', we will see how his analysis of contemporary societal transformations rests on a critical theory of communication and technology that, while entering a dialogue with the works of the Frankfurt school, especially those of Habermas, seeks to overcome their inherent contradictions. According to Freitag, the development of capitalist globalization alters the very substance of society as it tends to morph itself into a self-regulating cybernetic system. His sociology allows us to apprehend phenomena tied to the development of contemporary digital technologies such as the drive towards a new form of algorithmic governmentality fueled by digital oligopolies that increasingly dominate globalized capitalism, the rise of fake news in the era of post-truth and the transformation of subjectivity. Finally, his critique enables potent reflection on the dialectical possibilities of overcoming the dynamics of contemporary alienation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to discuss, from a critical theory perspective, the apparent paradox between the ability to monitor and control made possible by Big Data and the belief in the latter's emancipatory potential The goal is to assess to what extent the data, tools and methods characteristic of Big Data constitute self-regulation processes that are similar to a dynamics of governance and surveillance. We will analyze this phenomenon on the basis of two concepts inherited from the critical tradition in social science, namely that of the administered world as formulated by the Frankfurt School theorists, and that of governmentality as developed by Michel Foucault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]