Abstract

When conceptualizing the power and politics of algorithms it is important to blend an understanding of their material substrates with an understanding of the multiple ways of perceiving, feeling, acting, and knowing which congeal around algorithms as an object of social concern. The concluding chapter revisits some of the key questions of the book and looks at how algorithmic power and politics can be understood if power and politics are not necessarily about imposing force from above. The chapter serves to summarize the key contributions of the book in terms of: (1) providing an understanding of algorithms that is not committed to one ontological position, but instead sees algorithms in terms of a multiple and variable ontology, (2) helping to identify forms of algorithmic power and politics and (3) oering a theoretical framework for the kinds of work that algorithms do and the landscapes they help to generate.