Mid-century observers could not imagine behavioral modification as a private market project
Evidence
Most fascinating is that throughout these years of anxiety and debate, it was impossible to imagine the means of behavioral modification as anything other than owned and operated by the government: a privileged modality of state power. A 1966 Harvard Law Review article addressed issues of electronic tracking, surveillance, and behavioral control, reasoning that it would “consider governmental attempts to change conduct, since these seem more likely than private attempts.” The democratic impulse of US society, repelled by the excesses of its intelligence agencies, their support of criminal activities undertaken by the Nixon administration, and the migration of behavior modification as a means of disciplinary control in state institutions, led to the rejection of behavioral modification as an extension of governmental power. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1023
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to Foucault’s disciplinary societies and the ‘panopticon’ literature — the surveillance literature this chapter extends. — connects to: Behavior modification resurfaced as a market project after state versions were rejected — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1024; Contemporary power struggles now turn on engineered behavior modification, not class relations — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 969; Behavioral modification requires asymmetries of knowledge and power — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 874 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Contemporary power struggles now turn on engineered behavior modification, not class relations
#complicates(0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 969 - The attention industry did not exist a century ago
#corroborates(0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 14 - Behavioral modification requires asymmetries of knowledge and power
#expands(0.78) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 874 - Mass behavior modification was denounced decades ago but now passes with little resistance
#qualifies(0.75) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 70 - Market mechanisms sometimes amplify rather than correct human cognitive limitations
#expands(0.72) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 1207