The New Positivism: A Hegelian Critique

Big data and empirical social science share an often-subterraneous assumption, namely, positivism. Some of their jointly hidden premises are that experiences, preferences, and culture are all equally quantifiable, testable, and measurable. Further, their view is a reification of the status quo, a harmonistic view of society. On the other hand, the critical view espouses social antagonism , the view that society essentially consists of a struggle between groups. Critical theory argues against the critical rationalists that positivism (and thus, empirical social science) is guilty of a political agnosticism and, therefore, services the ends of bureaucracy and administration. This paper draws out some latent beliefs of big data as a new version of positivism and shows that big data inherits the problems of empirical social science. In particular, algorithms and data analytics for predictive policing, aggressively personalized advertisement, and prison recidivism stand out as substantial evidence of the new positivism that surges in administered society.