Towards Surveillance Education: An Investigation Into the Relationship Between Surveillance Capitalism, Education, and Identity

This thesis is a philosophical investigation that tracks the increasing influence of surveillance capitalism and its relationship to changes in identity, behaviour, and the classroom to create surveillance education. Education is key in the behavioural development of students and a critical social environment in the development of self-identity. Surveillance capitalism’s practitioners could author student identity by controlling the feedback about behavioural expression in the classroom and create citizens who accept surveillance as a legitimate part of their participation in society. This places humans in the position of a simple natural resource to be stacked, sorted, and manipulated as Heidegger suggested. This thesis begins with an examination of Shoshana Zuboff’s book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism and traces the interconnected nature of these concepts. Zuboff’s arguments are refocused towards identity. An examination of how education is changing and aiding in the adoption of surveillance methods is then undertaken. This leads to the conclusion that humans are now a natural resource and that education plays role in this outcome. Possible solutions to change the course are suggested. Future areas of research are also proposed that will continue to shed light on the emergence and effects of surveillance education

Who is watching you, and why? A social identity analysis of surveillance

The underlying theme that draws together all the chapters presented in this thesis is that surveillance, like any feature of our social world, is not imposed in a vacuum; and that information pertaining to the origin and purpose of surveillance is vital in determining how it will be perceived and evaluated (and how it will then impact on behaviour). The key aims of this thesis are, first, to demonstrate how a social identity approach can account for varying reactions to surveillance originating from different sources; second, to investigate how various contextual features exert their impact, resulting in the disparate perceptions of surveillance that exist in our society; and finally, to demonstrate how the imposition of surveillance can itself impact on the broader social context, including the relationship that is understood to exist between those watching and those being watched. These aims are broken down into ten research questions that are addressed in seven chapters. Chapter 1 reviews the literature on perceptions of surveillance and that on social identity, and attempts to illustrate how they may be theoretically combined, resulting in the advancement of both fields. In Chapter 2, we present two studies which demonstrate a negative relationship between shared identity and the perception of surveillance as an invasion of privacy. This relationship was mediated by perceptions that the purpose of surveillance was to ensure safety. In Chapter 3, two studies demonstrate how level of surveillance moderates followers’ responses to leaders with whom they either share identity, or not. Imposing high surveillance where identity was shared with a leader undermined perceptions of the leader as a team member and affected willingness to work for the group, reducing levels to that of leaders without a shared identity. Chapter 4 presents a study that aimed to investigate the role of social identity and surveillance in affecting both discretionary behaviour and task performance. High surveillance led to higher productivity on a task, but this was associated with lower quality of work. Additionally, when identity was shared with the person in charge, helping this person was detrimentally affected by high, as opposed to low, surveillance; whereas no such differences were found where identity was not shared. Chapter 5 presents two studies which showed that framing surveillance as targeting the in-group led to outcomes such as increased privacy invasion, lower acceptability of surveillance, and reduced levels of trust in the implementers of surveillance, as compared to when surveillance was framed as targeting an out-group. However, a third study failed to replicate these results. In Chapter 6, we address how level of threat in the environment can affect evaluations of surveillance. Two studies showed that high levels of threat led to surveillance being seen as less privacy-invading, more necessary, and as having a safety purpose. Finally, in Chapter 7, we review and integrate our findings, discuss the limitations of the research, and consider the implications it has, both theoretically and practically. We conclude that, overall, the findings presented in this thesis support the notion that the source of surveillance and the perceived purpose for it are integral to the perception and interpretation of the surveillance.Economic and Social Research Counci

Beautiful, unethical, dangerous : screening surveillance and maintaining insecurities

Many films critiquing the perpetuation of surveillance in contemporary society simultaneously highlight the apparently essential role(s) it plays in resolving social problems – problems that were often created by the technologies themselves. Such films construct surveillancescapes of various kinds – from the physical, to the psychological, to the virtual – and hold considerable importance in mediating understandings of technology, society and humanity. In this paper, we employ content and textual analyses of various films to reveal a rich ideological fabric that engages with vexed questions of identity, agency and ‘reality.’ We analyse an array of filmic representations of surveillance, arguing that significant contradictions lie at the heart of much mainstream cinema, and evaluating the medium’s potential for ideological subversion. An examination of the growing trend by filmmakers to either focus explicitly on surveillance or provide brief, naturalised portrayals of new media use for surveillance purposes highlights the crucial role of film in the development of hegemonic societal power structures. Through this process, we ask the question: who is actually watching whom

Surveillance, Disciplinary Power and Athletic Identity: A Sociological Investigation into the Culture of Elite Sports Academies

With the exception of work conducted by Parker (1996a) research concerning identity construction, surveillance practices and power relations within the context of a professional sports academy institution appears limited. Drawing on 30 semi-structured interviews with staff and athletes at two Premiership academies (one rugby, one football), a Foucauldian framework is utilised to provide a sociological analysis of disciplinary power and its impact upon the experiences and development of elite athletes. Foucault’s (1979) concept of panopticism is employed to explore the impact of surveillance as a disciplinary tool within the academies. The concept of surveillance as a disciplinary mechanism is furthered with the application of Latour’s (2005) ‘oligopticon’ and Deleuze and Guttari’s (2003) ‘rhizomatic' notion of surveillance networks. Foucault’s (1979; 1994b) normalising judgment and the concept of self and ‘lateral’ surveillance are employed to understand how the athletes internalise the values, attitudes and behaviours witnessed within the academies. An analysis of the regulation of the social space and time is accompanied by an application of Weber’s (1978) ‘domination by authority’ to explore the authoritative role of the coaches and their relationships with the players. The Foucauldian approach is accompanied by the work of Erving Goffman (1959; 1961a; 1961b) to understand how the role of ‘elite athlete’, bound by the notion of ‘professionalism’, is constructed and managed by the players on a daily basis. By adopting both a Foucauldian and interactionist perspective the thesis explores how the structure of the academies impacts upon the development and socialisation of those housed within them, whilst also maintaining focus upon the construction and management of identity and the presentation of ‘self’ in an institutional setting

The Double Sighted: Visibility, Identity, and Photographs on Facebook

The primary objective of this analysis is to uncover the tools of Facebook identity construction. Because Facebook users have the ability to control the images and information associated with their profiles, reactionary scholars typically classify Facebook identity as a symptom of cultural narcissism. However, I seek to displace the fixation on the newness of the medium in order to interrogate the possibility of a society that has internalized surveillance. Using Michel Foucault’s theories on panopticism and heterotopia, I examine the role photographs play in the construction of an individual on Facebook, and the ways in which user photographs are positioned into social memory construction

Body Objectification, Ethnic Identity and Cosmetic Surgery in African-American Women

This study investigated the role of ethnic identity in African-American women\u27s relationship with their bodies and their decisions for cosmetic procedures. The research hypotheses are: (1) The odds of receiving a cosmetic procedure increase with lower endorsements of ethnic identity. (2) Ethnic identity has an effect on surveillance, shame, and body control in African-American Women. Ethnic identity will be measured with the Multiethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), which measures subjects\u27 self-assessed membership in their ethnic group. Body Objectification is measured by the Objectified Body Consciousness scale, which measures a woman\u27s endorsements of surveillance, shame, and control. The sample consisted of 175 African-American women between the ages of 19 and 84. The hypothesis resulted in no significant relationships. Thus H1 and H2 were not confirmed. However, when considering the MEIM in its two factors, 1) EI Achievement and 2) Affirmation and Belonging, the study found that there were significant relationships between EI Achievement and Control as well as between Affirmation and Belonging and levels of Control. These findings may indicate that, as African-American women solidify their ethnic identity (Achievement) and feel close to their group (Affirmation and Belonging), they experience more perceived control over their bodies. This makes African-American women who endorse higher on these measures more likely to feel as if they can alter their bodies to align with cultural standards, which may possibly lead to choosing cosmetic surgery