Dissertation Project
Seeing and Being Seen: Toward a Liberal Democratic Theory of Spectatorship
Online media platforms have provided Americans with new ways to participate in civic life and keep an eye on those in power. However, at the same time, corporations and the government have gained vast surveillance capacities. To what extent should the government regulate the Internet, a public space that mediates information and public engagement? Under what circumstances can the government and private entities justifiably observe ordinary people? How can the ruled improve their view of the rulers to ensure accountability and exercise control over the terms of surveillance?
In examining the relationship between spectatorship and power, political theorists have tended to focus on either the experience of seeing or the experience of being seen. My project brings these together to investigate a fundamental conundrum: being seen is at once potentially oppressive to an individual, who is subjected to the scrutiny of the watcher, but also empowering, as those with access to the public stage influence what is seen and how they are seen.
I explore a liberal democratic approach to spectatorship that grapples with (1) the character of the political “spectacle” subjects observe, including the actions of those in power, and (2) the extent to which ordinary members of the community can participate in constructing that “spectacle,” acting and directing the events of the public stage themselves, while also being able to withdraw from view. In constructing this approach, I draw on the works of Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, and Jeremy Bentham, as well as contemporary work in political science.
Online media platforms have provided Americans with new ways to participate in civic life and keep an eye on those in power. However, at the same time, corporations and the government have gained vast surveillance capacities. To what extent should the government regulate the Internet, a public space that mediates information and public engagement? Under what circumstances can the government and private entities justifiably observe ordinary people? How can the ruled improve their view of the rulers to ensure accountability and exercise control over the terms of surveillance?
In examining the relationship between spectatorship and power, political theorists have tended to focus on either the experience of seeing or the experience of being seen. My project brings these together to investigate a fundamental conundrum: being seen is at once potentially oppressive to an individual, who is subjected to the scrutiny of the watcher, but also empowering, as those with access to the public stage influence what is seen and how they are seen.
I explore a liberal democratic approach to spectatorship that grapples with (1) the character of the political “spectacle” subjects observe, including the actions of those in power, and (2) the extent to which ordinary members of the community can participate in constructing that “spectacle,” acting and directing the events of the public stage themselves, while also being able to withdraw from view. In constructing this approach, I draw on the works of Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, and Jeremy Bentham, as well as contemporary work in political science.