Rise of the algopticon: the algoptic gaze in the age of algorithmic governance and surveillance capitalism

Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of an algopticon to theorize surveillance in the age of algorithmic governance and surveillance capitalism. Building on earlier surveillance models— panopticon, synopticon, banopticon, and super-panopticon—the algopticon represents a qualitative transformation in how power operates through data, prediction, and automation. Drawing on Hegel’s concept of sublation (Aufhebung), the paper argues that the algopticon does not simply replace these earlier frameworks but sublates them: it negates, preserves, and elevates their core logics into a new surveillance regime. Visibility becomes invisibility; discipline becomes prediction; and observation becomes algorithmic categorization. By automating control and embedding it into everyday life, the algopticon alters subjectivity, restructures agency, and deepens asymmetries of power. Through comparative analysis, this paper shows how the algopticon consolidates disciplinary, synoptic, exclusionary, and informational logics into a pervasive system of behavioral governance. It concludes by emphasizing the ethical and political stakes of this shift and calls for algorithmic accountability, transparency, and democratic oversight to ensure that emerging technologies serve justice rather than entrench inequality. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2025.