Abstract
This article adapts and extends Michel Foucault’s theorization of technologies of power, originally formulated with regard to the paradigm of the prisoner, to the paradigm of the consumer. Using examples of marketing practices and Internet technologies employed by Amazon.com, the author explores how sight-based technologies of power—individuation and surveillance—shape consumer agency and, employing the Panopticon metaphor, theorizes the link between surveillance and consumer spectacle. In addition to analyzing these techniques, the author indicates the formation of consumer resistance to them. The analysis of sight-based technologies of power is opposed to phenomenological analyses and analyses of discourse in the service of (a) providing an alternative hermeneutical viewpoint from which to view the consumer, (b) positioning marketing practitioners in our theories of consumer behavior, and, most importantly, (c) exploring how the consumer subject is constructed through technologies of surveillance and individuation.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
