The virtual panopticon and the banalization of social risks: Qualitative evidence about algorithmic decision-making in Belgian municipalities

Truman Venters, Sébastien Brunet and Ernesto Rodríguez-Crespo
Additional contact information
Truman Venters: University of St Andrews, St Andrews. UK.
Sébastien Brunet: Department of Political Science, University of Liège, Liège. Belgium.
Ernesto Rodríguez-Crespo: Department of Economic Structure and Development Economics, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid. Spain.

Revista de Economía y Finanzas (REyF), 2025, vol. 3, issue 7, 43-58

Abstract: The development of algorithms and data in Belgium has received some attention in recent years, but philosophical considerations have been left aside from the discussion. This work aims to fill this gap by investigating how public reason can interact with algorithms in Belgium. The approach is twofold. First, we develop a theoretical framework to construct the concept of public reason, which is expected to be aligned with the current stage and development of technology. Second, we test this framework using data from public administration at subnational level for three Belgian local authorities, Liège (Wallonia), Namur (Wallonia), and Antwerp (Flanders). By means of a qualitative approach based on interviews, we find how algorithms and data reduce men into simplified singularities and then provoke a “banalization” of public reason. This banalization of public reason leads to a banalization of local social risks.

Keywords: Belgium; Subnational level; Banalization; Public reason; Algorithms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q33 R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://reveyf.es/index.php/REyF/article/view/387/188

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cud:journ2:v:3:y:2025:i:7:p:43-58

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Revista de Economía y Finanzas (REyF) from Asociación Cuadernos de Economía Asociación Cuadernos de Economía Dpto. de Análisis Económico: Teoría Económica e Historia Económica (Módulo E-X-204) Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales Universidad Autónoma de Madrid C/ Francisco Tomás y Valiente 5 28049, Cantoblanco Madrid, España (Spain).
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Erick Tinsson ().