Roberto J. González

Hacking the citizenry?: Personality profiling, ‘big data’ and the election of Donald Trump

This article examines the reported use of ‘big data’ analysis by Cambridge Analytica in support of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. It investigates the transformations enveloping the overlapping worlds of politics, technology and social science. In particular, it critically reviews new developments in the field of psychometrics that have enabled researchers to harvest vast quantities of data by accessing social media platforms such as Facebook. The article also assesses claims that predictive analytics and ‘psychographics’ led to Trumps unexpected victory. The article concludes with a broader discussion about the state of political discourse in an era of digital communication.

Beyond the Human Terrain System: a brief critical history (and a look ahead)

ABSTRACT This article provides a brief critical history of the Human Terrain System (HTS), a US Army counterinsurgency programme designed to embed anthropologists and other social scientists with combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan. It lasted from 2007 to 2015 and at its peak employed more than 500 people. The programme, which was among the most expensive social science programs in history, was controversial for many reasons. Among anthropologists, HTS sparked heated debates about the ethics of professional social science. Soon after its creation, the American Anthropological Association’s executive board described the program as ‘an unacceptable application of anthropological expertise’. The article explores the reasons behind the program’s rapid rise and its subsequent demise, and it also discusses the long-term impacts of the programme – most notably the survival and propagation of the ‘human terrain’ concept within military and intelligence agencies, particularly as applied to techno-scientific methods of counterinsurgency. The article ends by reflecting upon broader questions of anthropological ethics in the post-9/11 world.

Ethnographic Intelligence: The Human Terrain System and Its Enduring Legacy

This chapter analyzes the rise and fall of the US Army’s human terrain system (HTS), which was created in 2006 and was terminated in 2014. It cost taxpayers at least

Towards mercenary anthropology? The new US Army counterinsurgency manual FM 3–24 and the military‐anthropology complex

725 million, making it the most expensive social science program in history. Anthropologists opposed HTS because it represented an unacceptable application of anthropological expertise. A small but vocal group of officers also criticized the program, claiming it was an ineffective, wasteful program. Investigative reports revealed patters of racism, sexual harassment, and mismanagement. Eventually, the program was terminated, due in part to the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq and the waning popularity of counter-insurgency. The chapter concludes with a discussion of new Pentagon programs that borrow elements of HTS.