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Title THE PRIVACY PARADOX AND THE QUESTION OF AGENCY: A STUDY OF SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM IN MCNAMEE’S ZUCKED: WAKING UP TO THE FACEBOOK CATASTROPHE AND GREENWALD’S NO PLACE TO HIDE

Author(s) Zainab Mushtaq

Abstract Title: The Privacy Paradox and the Question of Agency: A Study of Surveillance Capitalism in McNamee’s Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe and Greenwald’s No Place to Hide This study explores the concepts of privacy and agency by reading Roger McNamee’s Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe (2019) and Glenn Greenwald’s No Place to Hide (2014). I examine the selected texts by deploying Shoshana Zuboff’s approach to “Surveillance Capitalism” and Sherry Turkle’s concept of the “Privacy Paradox''. I argue that collecting information in the name of privacy is a strategy of surveillance. This is how the privacy paradox refers to the notion that social media, tech platforms, and state intelligence agencies offer the illusion of privacy and agency while, in fact, they are doing surveillance. The information of consumers is shared to the advertising companies and state agencies either for capitalist interests or security purposes. Resultantly, the agency and privacy of the consumers are compromised in many ways. Furthermore, this research lies in the qualitative paradigm. Its research design is interpretive and exploratory in nature. Hence, I use Catherine Belsey’s "Textual Analysis as a Research Method" to analyze the selected texts in terms of the relationship between surveillance capitalism and the notions of privacy and agency. I find that tech companies and state agencies hack the brain, modify behavior, exploit human information, manipulate by creating the fear of staying behind, and trace every virtual footprint. This study contributes to the production of knowledge in the domain of Surveillance Studies.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2025-02-26

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Contributor(s) Dr. Sibghatullah Khan

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