Toward a Sociology of Privacy

P A P E R   T O P I C   A L E R T !

Privacy is a big topic these days -- from TSA screening at the airport to FaceBook applications that access your profile to oversharing in status updates to identity theft and its variants. For a smart sociologist this stuff represents a gold mine, especially because so many of the voices in the conversation are oriented toward individual perspectives and simplistic understandings of our relationship to information (e.g., as property or dignity). Google's latest, google buzz, has given rise to a flurry of commentary (and a little analysis, but mostly commentary).   A few examples of last week or two:

CNET: What Google needs to learn from Buzz backlash
Computer World: How Buzz, Facebook and Twitter create 'social insecurity'
SF Chronicle: Local class action complaint filed over Google Buzz
New York Times: With Buzz, Google Plunges Into Social Networking
                Anger Leads to Apology From Google About Buzz
                Buzzing, Tweeting and Carping
PC Magazine: Google Buzz Gets Another Off Switch

What Sociologists Come to Mind in Connection with Privacy?

• Barry Schwartz.  1968. "The Social Psychology of Privacy." The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 73, No. 6 (May, 1968), pp. 741-752 http://www.jstor.org.www.mills.edu:2048/stable/2775779
• James Rule: See a post on this blog: "Rule on Surveillance : UCB SOC COLLOQUIUM TODAY" a few weeks ago.
• Gary Marx and Christena Nippert Eng. See her short piece on him:  "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind:  Thoughts on Gary Marx’s Essay on 'Thomas I. Voire'" inThe Sociological Quarterly, Volume 43, Number 3, pages 435-438.