French Literature Reviews - 2026

B. E. Harcourt, La Société d'exposition. Désir et désobéissance à l'ère numérique
History, Politics and Society

Exposed Society. Desire and Disobedience in the Digital Age

Bernard E. Harcourt

Translated by: Sophie Renaut

Seuil,

coll. La Couleur des idées
Publication date 09/01/2020
23.00 € TTC
336 pages
EAN 9782021372977

Bernard E. Harcourt offers a compelling critique of our new virtual transparency. He analyzes the impact of big data technologies on our lives and how they infiltrate them, revealing the extent of our voluntary surrender of freedom—to the point of accepting all manner of security-state overreaches. These violations of our liberties are flagrant; yet we seem largely unconcerned.

Capitalizing on our endless desire for universal, instant access to everything, internet giants map out our private lives, collecting millions of data points on our activities, interests, and relationships, while intelligence agencies cross-reference them with the billions of communications they record daily. Yet, even knowing how this data is weaponized, we continue to post family photos, moods, and thoughts. At the checkout counter, along with our credit cards, we hand over our email and postal addresses. Where does this sense of fatalism regarding the transgression of public and private boundaries come from?

This book vividly demonstrates how new technologies exploit our limitless desire for immediate and constant access to everything—at the risk of generalized surveillance—and issues a call to disobedience and resistance.

Professor of Law at Columbia University, where he directs the Center for Contemporary Critical Thought, Bernard E. Harcourt is also a directeur d'études at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales and a death penalty defense attorney in Alabama. He has edited two courses by Foucault delivered at the Collège de France, including Théories et institutions pénales and La Société punitive. He is also the author, in French, of L’illusion de l’ordre.

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An article on this work can be read on laviedesidees.fr:

"New Servitudes", by Juliette Chemillier, published online February 26, 2020

We no longer live in societies of control, but in exposed societies that reshape our desires. We willingly subject ourselves to our phones, tablets, and computers, thereby contributing to our own surveillance.

The intersections of technology, surveillance, and political philosophy have long occupied contemporary critical thought, particularly regarding how digital platforms reshape social behavior and civic life. Discussions in this field frequently examine the transition from traditional disciplinary frameworks to modern networked environments where citizens willingly participate in their own monitoring. Bernard E. Harcourt is a professor of law at Columbia University, where he directs the Center for Contemporary Critical Thought, and is also a directeur d'études at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales.

Readers interested in contemporary sociology, digital culture, and political theory may find this work relevant to their studies of modern governance. Further engagement with these topics can be found in wider literature concerning the ethics of big data and the future of civil liberties.