Sebastian Sevignani – författare

This book explores commodification processes of personal data and provides a critical framing of the ongoing debate of privacy in the Internet age, using the example of social media and referring to interviews with users. It advocates and expands upon two main theses: First, people’s privacy is structurally invaded in contemporary informational capitalism. Second, the best response to this problem is not accomplished by invoking the privacy framework as it stands, because it is itself part of the problematic nexus that it struggles against. Informational capitalism poses weighty problems for making the Internet a truly social medium, and aspiring to sustainable privacy simultaneously means to struggle against alienation and exploitation. In the last instance, this means opposing the capitalist form of association – online and offline.

Grounded in qualitative empirical research about social media users' attitudes towards privacy and surveillance issues, this book contributes to a critical theory of information capitalism by exploring the commodification of privacy and personal data, providing a critical framing of the ongoing debate over privacy in the internet age.

This book explores commodification processes of personal data and provides a critical framing of the ongoing debate of privacy in the Internet age, using the example of social media and referring to interviews with users. It advocates and expands upon two main theses: First, people’s privacy is structurally invaded in contemporary informational capitalism. Second, the best response to this problem is not accomplished by invoking the privacy framework as it stands, because it is itself part of the problematic nexus that it struggles against. Informational capitalism poses weighty problems for making the Internet a truly social medium, and aspiring to sustainable privacy simultaneously means to struggle against alienation and exploitation. In the last instance, this means opposing the capitalist form of association – online and offline.

This book explores commodification processes of personal data and provides a critical framing of the ongoing debate of privacy in the Internet age, using the example of social media and referring to interviews with users. It advocates and expands upon two main theses: First, people’s privacy is structurally invaded in contemporary informational capitalism. Second, the best response to this problem is not accomplished by invoking the privacy framework as it stands, because it is itself part of the problematic nexus that it struggles against. Informational capitalism poses weighty problems for making the Internet a truly social medium, and aspiring to sustainable privacy simultaneously means to struggle against alienation and exploitation. In the last instance, this means opposing the capitalist form of association – online and offline.

Öffentlichkeit ist wichtig für die Demokratie, und sie wandelt sich. Ihre aktuelle Entwicklung vollzieht sich im Spannungsfeld dreier Sequenzen institutionellen Wandels – der Globalisierung, der Kommodifizierung und der Digitalisierung des Sozialen. Diese beleuchten die Beiträge des Bandes in Diskussion mit der Öffentlichkeitstheorie von Jürgen Habermas, der seine eigenen Überlegungen zu einem erneuten Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit vorstellt. Das Buch wendet sich an ein breites interdisziplinäres Publikum aus den Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften, das an lebendigen und funktionierenden Öffentlichkeiten interessiert ist und anhand fundierter Zeitdiagnosen einen Überblick zu aktuellen Veränderungen und den damit verbunden Chancen und Herausforderungen für die Legitimität und Wirkmächtigkeit der Demokratie gewinnen möchte.Mit Beiträgen vonMarcus Baum, Timon Beyes, Ulrich Brinkmann, Leonhard Dobusch, Renate Fischer, Nancy Fraser, Jürgen Habermas, Heiner Heiland, Maximillian Heimstädt, Otfried Jarren, Sandra Kostner, Georg Krücken, Felix Maschewski, Anna-Verena Nosthoff, Claudia Ritzi, Christoph Roos, Hartmut Rosa, Martin Seeliger, Sebastian Sevignani, Philipp Staab, Thorsten Thiel, Tanja Thomas, Hans-Jörg Trenz, Silke Van Dyk, Fabian Virchow und Michael Zürn.