The Panoptic Sort: A Political Economy Of Personal InformationThe consensus is clear. Personal privacy will become the dominant issue of the 1990s. Yet a focus on privacy, as we have come to understand it so far, all but guarantees that we ignore the implications of the privacy debate at the more fundamental levels of individual autonomy, collective agency, and bureaucratic control. The Panoptic Sort helps us to understand just what is at stake when the bureaucracies of government and commerce gather, share, and make use of an almost unlimited amount of personal information to manage the social and economic systems within their spheres. Unlike Foucault's panoptic prison, which involved continual, all-encompassing surveillance, the current panoptic system depends upon the ability of operators to classify and then separate disciplinary subjects into groups in a way that increases the efficiency with which the techniques of correct training or rehabilitation may be applied to each individual. This book describes in full detail the design and use of the panoptic operation, with examples from marketing, employment, insurance, credit management, and the provision of governmental social services. |
Contents
Introduction | 15 |
Data and the Panoptic Sort | 53 |
In Pursuit of the Corporate View | 95 |
Copyright | |
9 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
The Panoptic Sort: A Political Economy of Personal Information Oscar H. Gandy Jr. Limited preview - 2021 |
The Panoptic Sort: A Political Economy of Personal Information Oscar H. Gandy Jr.,Oscar H. Gandy No preview available - 2021 |
Common terms and phrases
analysis Anthony Giddens argued asked assessment associated behavior Bloustein bureaucracies caller Caller-ID calling party census claim cohorts communication consumer corporate critical database defined direct marketing economic Ellul emerged Equifax extent factor files firms Foucault gather George Gerbner Giddens groups Ibid identify included increase indicated individuals industry influence informational privacy informed consent interaction involved issue Jacques Ellul Jürgen Habermas limited lists Max Weber measure ment Michel Foucault option organizations panoptic sort percent personal information political potential Press privacy interests profiles protection questions records reflect regard relations relationship response risk sensitive sharing social society structure suggests survey telecommunications telemarketing telephone companies telephone number television tion transaction trust U.S. Congress U.S. Supreme Court understanding variables Weber York