Hickey 1
Alan Hickey
Dr. Burton
English 295
8 June 2012
Thoughts on Control: Hegemony and Choice
in the Digital Age
After clicking on a blue lollipop on my
Facebook page, a video began to play showing an eerie corridor in what seemed
to be a dilapidated psychiatric ward. The camera moved down the hallway and turned
into one of the rooms. In the room sat a man with a grubby, white tank top and
greasy hair. He was sitting in front of a computer searching some website. As
the camera moved closer to the man, I was shocked to see pictures and
information from my Facebook page on the screen of his computer. He searched
through my pictures and I cringed as his dirty hands stroked the mouse as a
sign of crazed pleasure. After searching my photos, he input my information
into a search engine and brought up directions to my home. The man then slowly
turned his head from the screen and looked directly at me with crazed eyes and
a wicked smirk. From outside, I heard a car door slam, and I jumped with terror
thinking that I was about to die (Jameson).
Although this video’s purpose was
directed to educate people about the physical dangers of putting too much
information on the Internet, it raises many questions about how personal
information can be used that is on the Web. Companies like Google and Facebook
are able to amass hundreds of pages of personal information on users, from
which items people are searching for, to even addresses and private
conversations (Humphries). This control over personal information has given
many technology companies the clichéd title of “Big Brother,” coined from
George Orwell’s novel, 1984, where
Big Brother is the political figurehead of a totalitarian government that
controls almost every aspect of peoples’ lives. A great concern echoing throughout today’s digital world is over
the access allowed to personal information and how this information is used.
The issue of the control of information
makes people wonder how much influence technology companies have on
individuals. A question that persists is: Are these companies “Big Brothers”
that seek to control consumers’ lives?
The argument of this paper is: not really. Although many believe that the world of digital
media is being controlled by contrived ideological hegemonic systems created by
technology companies, such as Google, Facebook, and Apple, this control is
mostly imagined because consumers of digital media are able to control the
actions of companies through acts of creation and the use of purchasing power.
These acts inspire competition and disavow companies of dominance and control.
First, in order to understand how technology companies use types of hegemony to try and control consumers, it is important to understand the basics of hegemony. While in prison for 11 years, Antonio Gramsci, a member of the Italian Communist party and an intellectual, wrote volumes of criticism against the fascist regime of Mussolini through the guise of literary and cultural criticism (Burke). Gramsci’s criticism presented in his Prison Notebooks contains theories of hegemony describing how hegemonies can be enforced through two distinct ways: coercive means, usually by the “political society,” or “spontaneous” consent given by the masses in reaction to the ideology of the “dominant fundamental group” (Gramsci 145). Gramsci prefaces his description of these two forms of hegemony by putting it in the context of how intellectuals are bred and developed through educational systems. According to Gramsci, a person’s intellect is determined by how well they are educated and influenced by a school (143). Accordingly, the success of a hegemonic system is based on how well an ideology is promulgated and followed by the masses.
Although technology companies
are not all powerful entities like the totalitarian regime of the Party in 1984, they exhibit aspects of the second
form of hegemonic control, or ideological hegemony, as they seek to advance the
holdings of their individual companies. In the novel, Orwell plays with
different theories of how totalitarian regimes control their subjects: through
mass presence, control of the media, social interaction, and compliant
dependency. These ideas apply to any type of ideological or coercive hegemony
and are applicable to today’s digital world. Massive companies like Google, Facebook,
and Apple are accused to use similar means of control, as described in Orwell's
book, to influence a society of consumers to place trust in their products.
In 1984, one
method used by the Party’s hegemonic system to keep party members in line is
through the use of mass presence. In the book, every Party member’s home has a
piece of technology known as a telescreen. These screens provide a way for
Party members to constantly be fed propaganda by the Party and also constantly
be observed. This constant observation keeps the subjugated citizens of
Orwell’s world mostly in submission to the decrees of the government.
Winston Smith, the protagonist, only finds ways to rise against
the hegemonic system by being able to get away from the all-seeing eye of Big
Brother. He does this by finding places that are out of sight of the
telescreen, such as the small alcove in his room where he writes in his journal
(Orwell 9) or the room he rents above Mr. Charrington’s shop in run-down London
where he rendezvous with Julia for their sexual escapades (113-116).
This idea of control by constant
observation, or presence, translates to the digital world and the means by
which technology companies seek to control consumers. For example, Google, by
amassing rights to be the default search engine on many Internet browsers, has
been able to create a vast presence on the Web that has even led to the
addition of "google" as a verb in the dictionary (“Google”). Tim Wu,
in a lecture about his book, The Master
Switch, explained that the reason people use Google so much is because of
this presence. Google being accessible almost everywhere makes it convenient to
use and logically people would ask themselves, “Why not use Google” (Wu).
Though this convenience makes it seem that Google is monopolizing the market as
an Internet browser, their overwhelming presence does not mean they directly
control which mode of consumption consumers use. The existence of competition
between other search engines such as Yahoo and MSN with Google adds evidence
that convenience does not equate to control (Baker). Google may remain as one
of the top grossing Internet companies, but that does not show it controls
individual’s ability to branch out from Google because there are no
restrictions to the contrary.
The hegemony of 1984 is
also continued by the Party's ability to modify the past and control the
information that is consumed by individuals. Winston describes this constant
flux of truth by using the Newspeak word "doublethink," which means,
according to Winston, “[t]o know and not to know, to be conscious of complete
truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously
two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and
believing in both of them…” (Orwell 23). The idea of changing or controlling
what information people are privy to is part of the reality of the digital
world. Google has certain algorithms that modify searches to personalize
them for each of their individual customers based on their search history and
perceived interests (Levy). This in effect censors the kind of information you
are able to view when surfing the Internet. Though this algorithm can in theory
limit the kinds of search results given according to individual preferences,
Google does not have the ability to control how this information is used by
each consumer. Google is unable to dominate the potential for creation of
individuals who use its product, and therefore the company does not maintain
complete control.
Another aspect of control
that is part of the hegemony in Orwell’s book is the Party’s attempt to control
individuals through social interaction. As a way to imprint their ideology on
party members, the Party organizes certain club organizations for youth, like
the Spies. The Spies organization is specifically organized to instill
principles of loyalty to the Party in youth by teaching them how to recognize
potential dissension from party policies by others. The narrator describes them
as “being horrible…by means of such organizations as the Spies they were
systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produces
in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party” (Orwell
24). These clubs go on group hikes and other communal activities to create
bonds of familiarity with its members that would grow into a feeling of being
part of something greater than each individual alone. This social interaction
used by the Party is also a method that is used to invite consumers to
willingly consent to use a product.
In the digital world, and
example of how social interaction is used to try and control consumers is Facebook.
The company uses social interaction as one of its products and also as a way to
promote itself. Facebook is a social networking site that allows individuals to
create individualized profiles and share information with friends for free.
This product was made popular because of the ability to easily connect with
those that you know and communicate with them freely about almost anything. The
popularity of Mark Zuckerberg’s product was bred on the “club” mentality of
social interaction, as described with the Spies previously. This mode to
establish ideological hegemony has appeared to be successful and has brought
millions of users under the umbrella of Facebook, but that does not mean that
Facebook is able to control these consumers’ decisions.
Facebook’s lack of control
has recently been revealed with the company’s decision to go public. Many
investors have tried to jump ship as the price of shares fell below the
estimated $38 per share (“Facebook IPO…”). These consumers with investments in
Facebook were not tethered to the company just because of the opportunity for
social networking. They had personal interests in the company that were not
met, and they chose to act on these interests for their personal welfare. This
shows that Facebook did not have enough control over investors and consumers of
its product to stop them from losing faith in the company’s direction.
One last aspect of
ideological hegemonic control used in 1984
that is applicable to digital media is the process of how the Party made its
members dependent upon its services for basic necessities and wants. Throughout
the text, Winston uses products controlled and distributed by the party.
Products like cigarettes, razors, gin, and even chocolate are produced and
controlled by the direct influence of the regime and competition is
nonexistent. This form of Communism creates a narrowed society where each
individual’s options of consumption are limited. This compliant dependency that
Party members have with the regime of Big Brother is similar to the
"walled-garden" that Apple has created for hardware users (Burton).
The world of Apple products
includes iMacs, iPads, iPhones, iPods, and MacBooks. These products each have
the capacity to sync with one another and have software that can only be used
between Apple devices. For example, iTunes limits users to how audio media can
be played and shared due to copyright and certain restrictions Apple places on
the sold content. Further, Apple's apps can only be purchased from the Apple
store and are not freely open to users of Apple products. These forms of
product control create a niche for consumers that invites them to become
compliant with their dependency on the company for their products.
Even with this “walled
garden” of exclusive use, Apple can be controlled depending on the actions of
consumers to buy their products. Steve Jobs, the former CEO and co-founder of
Apple, stated in an interview that his whole goal was “to create the best
product possible for consumers” (Jobs). Because Apple has based its marketing
strategy on free market principles, resistance to its ideological hegemony is
simply a matter of consumers understanding their right to purchasing power. The
competition that continues to exist between PCs and Apple’s Mac products shows
that complete dominance of the hardware industry is currently out of Apple’s
grasp.
In the digital world, there
is no one dominant hegemonic system vying for complete control over the lives
of consumers. Rather, there are many smaller divisions of hegemonies that seek
to control only certain aspects of consumers’ lives. The examples used previously
demonstrate that technology companies seeking to control consumers will use
many avenues to discriminate their ideologies, as represented by their
products. It is left to the consumer to choose whether they are going to be
controlled or not. Greg Bayles, a student studying literature in the digital
age, commented, “I feel like people DO have
the power to escape the control and influence (for now) o[f] large companies
like Google, etc., but it seems that most people are completely content within
their walled gardens…if people are willing to hold on to (or unable to let go
of) things that they hate, what is to discourage people from using services
that actually help them but make them dependent upon large media corporations”
(Bayles)? This dichotomy that Greg
highlights is difficult to address, but the example of Winston in 1984 gives some answers.
Throughout 1984, Winston resists the Party’s
ideological controls, such as the Two Minutes Hate and other propaganda of the
Party, through his act of keeping a journal (Orwell 14). In the story, Winston
purchases an illegal journal from a small shop outside of the Party’s constant
surveillance and begins to record his thoughts and feelings about his life and his
understanding of the negative influence of the Party. In reaction to the
Party’s mode of oppression, Winston pens repeatedly the phrase, “DOWN WITH BIG
BROTHER” (19). In this act of creation,
Winston reveals that he is not completely controlled by the domineering eye of
Big Brother. The whole of act of journal writing in the novel represents
humanities ability to have freedom of will no matter what modes of hegemony are
used to control them. Not only does this form of creativity allow Winston to
not be controlled, it gives him a voice to call known and unknown others to
embrace their unalienable freedom of choice. Winston writes to these others by
saying:
To the future or the past, to
a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not
live alone—to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: From
the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother,
from the age of double think—greetings! (26-27)
This statement is a symbol of how hegemony, both ideological and
coercive, can be resisted and an individuals freedom be maintained through an
act of creation.
Along with Winston’s
resistance through acts of creation, his acts of purchasing products outside the
reach of Party control correlate to a consumer’s ability to step outside the
supposed brick walls of brand names and main-line technological products and
individually break down the burgeoning technological monopolies. As mentioned
before, Winston first stumbles upon a small shop outside the domain of the
Party, and he buys a small journal. This shop, mentioned previously, is
frequented by Winston throughout the novel and on another occasion, he chooses
to buy a small glass paperweight with coral at its center. Winston notices the
paperweight for its beauty, which drastically contrasts with the utilitarian
mindset of the Party. This beauty attracts Winston’s attention, but is not the
complete reason why he chooses to buy the item. According to the text, “what
appealed to [Winston] about it was not so much its beauty as the air it seemed
to possess of belonging to an age quite different from the present one” (Orwell
81). His reasoning reflects a sense of rebellion in the act of purchasing the
item because it represented something different from the world of Big Brother. Just
like Winston, the monopolized products of corporate giants can be
circumnavigated if individuals choose to walk outside the walled gardens.
In today’s digital world
there are many companies that exhibit hegemonic tendencies. These companies do
not represent an overpowering totalitarian regime as described in Orwell’s 1984, but do represent entities that
seek to control aspects of peoples lives. Through acts of creation and also
exercising purchasing power, individuals can remain untethered by the grasping
hands of technology companies and maintain autonomy in the digital world. It is left to individuals to choose to bridle these companies by keeping them in
check. I would invite all who read this paper to evaluate how controlled you
feel and seek to liberate yourselves by following some of the ideas presented.
Works
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