The Smart Society and Its Enemies. Meanings and Limits in the Criticism of Smartness

This article traces a brief history of the concept of smartness, focusing on the integration of people, environment, and technologies. The difference between smartness itself, on the one hand, and intelligence, digitization, and simple competitiveness, on the other, is highlighted. Moreover, after analyzing some not insignificant misgivings about the delimitation of places and relationships, some elements are offered to distinguish progressive criticism, which aims at the empowerment of the majority, from merely regressive and ultimately unhelpful criticism. The conclusions emphasize that smartness, in addition to helping the social sciences, particularly sociology, frame fundamental and still unresolved issues in new ways, is now an unavoidable topic for researchers.