Advancing the Study of Privacy Cynicism, Apathy and Resignation in the Digital Society

Edited by Christoph Lutz, Professor, Department of Communication and Culture, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway, Christian Pieter Hoffmann, Professor, Institute of Communication and Media Studies, University of Leipzig, Germany, Aurelia Tamò-Larrieux, Professor, Faculty of Law, Criminal Justice and Public Administration, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

’At a moment when cybersecurity risks dominate headlines, this volume offers a timely examination of privacy cynicism. It shows how individuals, confronted with limited influence over data practices by corporations and states, gradually shift from concern to resignation. This erosion of agency does not signal apathy, but rather a rational response to structural constraints – one that risks deepening mistrust and disengagement. By combining strong theoretical foundations with diverse empirical insights across global contexts, the book demonstrates how privacy fatigue and cynicism take root in everyday digital life. Crucially, it also underscores why interdisciplinary research is urgently needed: not only to diagnose this growing cynicism, but to imagine realistic pathways toward empowerment.’

• ContentsPART I INTRODUCTION1 Introduction to the volume: privacy cynicism and digitalresignation – a new perspective 2Christoph Lutz, Christian Pieter Hoffmann and AureliaTamò-LarrieuxPART II THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS2 Privacy theories and their connection to privacy cynicism 18Yannic Meier3 Conceptualizing privacy cynicism: a review of privacycynicism as multidimensional attitude 35Iris van Ooijenand Claire M. Segijn4 From traits to states: situational dynamics of privacycynicism, privacy fatigue and mistrust 52Philipp K. Masur5 Privacy resignation as an adaptive preference 69Gordon Hull6 Privacy cynicism as a product of structural constraints and aform of social privilege: a precarious protection hypothesis 84Laurent H. WangPART III CONTEXTS AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE7 Privacy cynicism among women in rural India: how genderperformances shape digital interactions 101Debjani Chakraborty8 Privacy in the context of pervasive surveillance: digitalresignation and resistance in China 116Ariane Ollier-Malaterre9 Algorithmic surveillance in everyday life: user perceptionsand adaptation of Zhima Credit in China 133Fan Liang and Haiqing Yu10 Privacy fatigue and cynicism in the digital age: a closereplication of Choi et al. (2018) and Lutz et al. (2020) 149Philipp K. Masur11 Organizational practices and the cycle of privacy resignation:challenges for data workers 172Lemi Baruh and Mihaela Popescu12 Resigned aspirations in platform societies: hope andhopefulness underneath resignation about datafication 191Ranjana DasPART IV POLICY IMPLICATIONS, REMEDIES, ANDFUTURE DIRECTIONS13 Data citizenship as literacies to address digital resignation 207Elinor Carmi and Panagiota Nakou14 EU data access and portability in practice: nothing butresignation and frustration? 224Yongle Chao, Aurelia Tamò-Larrieux and Konrad Kollnig15 Digital resistance and the quest for a less resigned datafiedpublic: exploring individuals’ awareness of, attitudes towards,and reactions to a datafied everyday life 240Kiran Kappeler16 Consensual interdependence: AI, privacy and empowermentbeyond the individual 257Enya Rogerson and Henrik Skaug SætraPART V CONCLUSION17 Conclusion: looking towards the future and a research agendafor privacy scholars 277Aurelia Tamò-Larrieux, Christian Pieter Hoffmann andChristoph Lutz