This article explores how attention training influences perception and political organisation in three fields, highlighting connections to capital dynamics.
Jonathan Crary is well known for his analysis of the 'discipline of vision'. According to him, our field of perception is structured by the history of the capitalist mode of production and by the scientific knowledge and technical instruments it deploys to put the eye to work. This is why Crary's work can be analyzed as a study not only of the 'eye of power' but, more precisely, of the 'eye of capital'. The aim of this article is to present how Crary's work allows us to articulate the socialisation of perception and the political organisation of modes of production – while being attentive to the hegemonic and counter-hegemonic tendencies it conveys. We begin by presenting the history of attention training developed by Crary. Secondly, we analyze the influence of these theses in three different fields (the economics of attention, media archaeology and the history of sensibilities). Thirdly, we discuss the methodological and political implications of such a proposal.
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Camille et al. (2025) studied this question.
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