How has Capitalism contributed to and shaped the rise of the surveillance society?
From the watchful eye of the omnipresent CCTV camera to the tracking ability of smartphones, surveillance, in the modern era, is an inescapable aspect of life. Arguably, if not for the dominant role Capitalism plays in the modern world, surveillance would not have been able to progress as rapidly or to have become so societally acceptable. In particular, two main characteristics of Capitalism, commodification and consumerism, have contributed greatly to the rise of the surveillance age. The dynamics that capitalism has set in motion have allowed for economic actors such as corporations to use surveillance as a tool for profit, in order to capture data on both …show more content…
This process is called commodification. Because of the highly competitive nature of capitalism, it is important for capitalists to continue to find new streams of revenue (Zwick & Denegri Knott 2009). It is therefore arguable that this need for new innovative, profitable products has led to the commodification of personal information (Zwick & Denegri Knott, 2009., Zwart, Humphreys, & Van Dissel, 2014). Just like any other product on the market, personal data such as names, email-addresses, preferences and habits has a high value. (Zwick & Denegri Knott, 2009., Zobuff, 2015) Those with the power, ability and knowledge on how to capture this data using online surveillance techniques, become the intermediaries between the individual leaving online traces and the companies who wish to know what those traces might be able to tell …show more content…
Consumerism is the notion that ever-increasing consumption of consumer goods and services is beneficial for the capitalism economy. In order for capitalism to thrive, demand for products must always be stimulated (Allmer, 2012). Because of this, companies are interested in the patterns of behavior they can predict by analyzing a large set of consumer ‘data doubles’ captured in Big Data (Zwick & Denegri Knott, 2009). This information can be used to manipulate, exploit or attempt to control consumer behavior in order to encourage mass consumerism and increase profit, and Big Data has therefore become a competitive necessity (Zwick & Denegri Knott, 2009., Allmer 2012., Fuchs,
From the watchful eye of the omnipresent CCTV camera to the tracking ability of smartphones, surveillance, in the modern era, is an inescapable aspect of life. Arguably, if not for the dominant role Capitalism plays in the modern world, surveillance would not have been able to progress as rapidly or to have become so societally acceptable. In particular, two main characteristics of Capitalism, commodification and consumerism, have contributed greatly to the rise of the surveillance age. The dynamics that capitalism has set in motion have allowed for economic actors such as corporations to use surveillance as a tool for profit, in order to capture data on both …show more content…
This process is called commodification. Because of the highly competitive nature of capitalism, it is important for capitalists to continue to find new streams of revenue (Zwick & Denegri Knott 2009). It is therefore arguable that this need for new innovative, profitable products has led to the commodification of personal information (Zwick & Denegri Knott, 2009., Zwart, Humphreys, & Van Dissel, 2014). Just like any other product on the market, personal data such as names, email-addresses, preferences and habits has a high value. (Zwick & Denegri Knott, 2009., Zobuff, 2015) Those with the power, ability and knowledge on how to capture this data using online surveillance techniques, become the intermediaries between the individual leaving online traces and the companies who wish to know what those traces might be able to tell …show more content…
Consumerism is the notion that ever-increasing consumption of consumer goods and services is beneficial for the capitalism economy. In order for capitalism to thrive, demand for products must always be stimulated (Allmer, 2012). Because of this, companies are interested in the patterns of behavior they can predict by analyzing a large set of consumer ‘data doubles’ captured in Big Data (Zwick & Denegri Knott, 2009). This information can be used to manipulate, exploit or attempt to control consumer behavior in order to encourage mass consumerism and increase profit, and Big Data has therefore become a competitive necessity (Zwick & Denegri Knott, 2009., Allmer 2012., Fuchs,