Constant observation prevents any stable balance between self and others

Evidence

This was not intended as a statement of misanthropy but rather a recognition that the self-other balance can never be adequately struck as long as the “others” are constantly “watching.” Another mid-century social psychologist, Erving Goffman, took up these themes in his immortal The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Goffman developed the idea of the “backstage” as the region in which the self retreats from the performative demands of social life. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1500

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Goffman’s backstage concept as a retreat region against social performance, key to understanding what surveillance erodes.