Toward a sociology of digital resignation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to two fold: (1) to suggest the importance of constructing a sociology of digital resignation, and (2) to provide a framework for grounding such an approach. By digital resignation we mean the condition created when people desire to control the information and data digital entities such as online marketers have about them, but feel unable to exercise that control. Although resignation has not been a term researchers have routinely associated with the digital environment, recent empirical studies suggest it may be an overlooked description of the way people evaluate their social leverage in relation to an increasingly important part of twenty-first century life (see: Draper, forthcoming; Hargaitti & Marwick, 2016; Turow, Hennessey, & Draper, 2015). In the face of these findings, we turn to the small literature in anthropology and social psychology that characterizes resignation as a socio-political phenomenon (see: Benson & Kirsch, 2010; Forman, 1963). Building off these insights, we argue that the creation and reinforcement of resignation around the gathering and use of data about individuals has become an integral part of corporate business models. In the process, the industrial cultivation of digital resignation has also become central to the dynamics of power in twenty-first century society. We conclude by addressing the major policy issues that arise from these conditions; as well as what more we need to know, and what research ought to be conducted, to build a fuller understanding of this recent but crucial social phenomenon.