The Politics of Sousveillance
“New Media and the Power Politics of Sousveillance in a Surveillance-Dominated World” is a paper that examines the surveillance and under sight “sousveillance” in a network mediated by technologies such as phones, wearable-computing devices, and technologies (Mann et al., 18). With the increase of mobiles phones, smartphones, and portable devices, there is a new type of power associated with the surveillance of these devices. By using these devices consumers are being surveilled and are being a part of societies of control. As noted by Deuze in “No Life Outside Media” consumers may be monitored, tracked, or watched while using such digital devices without their knowledge (Deuze, 103). Although many users believe that they are using portable devices that are communicating to a certain recipient, many people may be surveilling users every move. By putting users in this society of control it shapes people as they realize that others may see their private messages. Surveillant systems in the iPhone are also related to Foucault and the panopticon. As learned in the course, the panopticon is a concept that revolves around surveillance for monitoring and supervising peoples behaviour (Mann et al., 23).
This surveillance mechanism is used both in a disciplinary institution and within an iPhone, which seem like two completely different subjects, however the concepts of supervision remain the same. The disciplinary society is based on the continuous surveillance and examination of its participants as noted by Deuze (Deuze, 104). The panopticon model suggests that because we believe an authoritarian power is watching over us, we fear punishment, and willingly participate because we do not want to get into trouble. As explained by Mann, in modern democracies the gaze of surveillance and the threat of being caught encourages most citizens to obey, and to become docile bodies (Mann et al., 24). This model applies to the iPhone as a technological device, as its users are shaped and monitored by a capitalist society who provides them with the product in the first place.
Today devices such as the iPhone are known as one of the major technologies for communication because of its many features that allows users to communicate both quickly and efficiently worldwide. Many consumers have misconceptions about the iPhone because it is a portable device, but as consumers are purchasing into the Apple brand, they are buying into a capitalist society. The iPhone is known as a staple of capitalist society, as it is a product controlled by a multi national company and is distributed worldwide. In Deleuze’s “Postscript on the Societies of Control” he discusses how societies of control are a part of technological evolution (Deleuze, 6). This technological evolution that Deleuze discusses is a mutation of capitalism. This is applicable to the iPhone, as technology has evolved and transgressed, so has the smartphone. With the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the rise of surveillance rose significantly due to technological evolution in society. As the iPhone is one of the primary modes of communication today, consumers often put themselves in risk of being a part of societies of control. Much of the world is put under the surveillance of the capital world, and by using the iPhone, a capitalist made device used to communicate virtually everywhere all over the world. By purchasing Apple products, as consumers we are falling into a capitalist society, and one that is regulating and surveilling our media driven world.
Works Cited
Deleuze, G. (1992). Postscript on the Societies of Control. October (59,) 3-7.
Deuze, M. (2012). No Life Outside Media. Media Life (pp. 100-130). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Mann, S., & Ferenbok, J. (2013). New Media and the Power Politics of Sousveillance in a Surveillance-Dominated World. Surveillance & Society, 11(1/2), 18-34.















