The Known Citizen : A History of Privacy in Modern America

A Washington Post Book of the Year Winner of the Merle Curti Award Winner of the Jacques Barzun Prize Winner of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award "A masterful study of privacy." —Sue Halpern, New York Review of Books "Masterful (and timely)...[A] marathon trek from Victorian propriety to social media exhibitionism...Utterly original." — Washington Post Every day, we make decisions about what to share and when, how much to expose and to whom. Securing the boundary between one's private affairs and public identity has become an urgent task of modern life. How did privacy come to loom so large in public consciousness? Sarah Igo tracks the quest for privacy from the invention of the telegraph onward, revealing enduring debates over how Americans would—and should—be known. The Known Citizen is a penetrating historical investigation with powerful lessons for our own times, when corporations, government agencies, and data miners are tracking our every move. "A mighty effort to tell the story of modern America as a story of anxieties about privacy...Shows us that although we may feel that the threat to privacy today is unprecedented, every generation has felt that way since the introduction of the postcard." —Louis Menand, New Yorker "Engaging and wide-ranging...Igo's analysis of state surveillance from the New Deal through Watergate is remarkably thorough and insightful." — The Nation Every Day, Americans Make Decisions About Their Privacy: What To Share And When, How Much To Expose And To Whom. Securing The Boundary Between One's Private Affairs And Public Identity Has Become A Central Task Of Citizenship. How Did Privacy Come To Loom So Large In American Life? Sarah Igo Tracks This Elusive Social Value Across The Twentieth Century, As Individuals Questioned How They Would, And Should, Be Known By Their Own Society. Privacy Was Not Always A Matter Of Public Import. But Beginning In The Late Nineteenth Century, As Corporate Industry, Social Institutions, And The Federal Government Swelled, Increasing Numbers Of Citizens Believed Their Privacy To Be Endangered. Popular Journalism And Communication Technologies, Welfare Bureaucracies And Police Tactics, Market Research And Workplace Testing, Scientific Inquiry And Computer Data Banks, Tell-all Memoirs And Social Media All Propelled Privacy To The Foreground Of U.s. Culture. Jurists And Philosophers But Also Ordinary People Weighed The Perils, The Possibilities, And The Promise Of Being Known. In The Process, They Redrew The Borders Of Contemporary Selfhood And Citizenship. The Known Citizen Reveals How Privacy Became The Indispensable Language For Monitoring The Ever-shifting Line Between Our Personal And Social Selves. Igo's Sweeping History, From The Era Of Instantaneous Photography To The Age Of Big Data, Uncovers The Surprising Ways That Debates Over What Should Be Kept Out Of The Public Eye Have Shaped U.s. Politics And Society. It Offers The First Wide-angle View Of Privacy As It Has Been Lived And Imagined By Modern Americans.-- Technologies Of Publicity -- Documents Of Identity -- The Porous Psyche -- A Right To Be Let Alone -- Codes Of Confidentiality And Consent -- The Record Prison -- The Ethic Of Transparency -- Stories Of One's Self. Sarah E. Igo. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "Every day, Americans make decisions about their privacy: what to share and when, how much to expose and to whom. Securing the boundary between one's private affairs and public identity has become a central task of citizenship. How did privacy come to loom so large in American life? Sarah Igo tracks this elusive social value across the twentieth century, as individuals questioned how they would, and should, be known by their own society. Privacy was not always a matter of public import. But beginning in the late nineteenth century, as corporate industry, social institutions, and the federal government swelled, increasing numbers of citizens believed their privacy to be endangered. Popular journalism and communication technologies, welfare bureaucracies and police tactics, market research and workplace testing, scientific inquiry and computer data banks, tell-all memoirs and social media all propelled privacy to the foreground of U.S. culture. Jurists and philosophers but also ordinary people weighed the perils, the possibilities, and the promise of being known. In the process, they redrew the borders of contemporary selfhood and citizenship. The Known Citizen reveals how privacy became the indispensable language for monitoring the ever-shifting line between our personal and social selves. Igo's sweeping history, from the era of "instantaneous photography" to the age of big data, uncovers the surprising ways that debates over what should be kept out of the public eye have shaped U.S. politics and society. It offers the first wide-angle view of privacy as it has been lived and imagined by modern Americans"-- Provided by the publisher Every day, Americans make decisions about their privacy : what to share and when, how much to expose and to whom. Securing the boundary between one's private affairs and public identity has become a central task of citizenship. How did privacy come to loom so large in American life? Sarah Igo tracks this elusive social value across the twentieth century, as individuals questioned how they would, and should, be known by their own society. Privacy was not always a matter of public import. But beginning in the late nineteenth century, as corporate industry, social institutions, and the federal government swelled, increasing numbers of citizens believed their privacy to be endangered. Popular journalism and communication technologies, welfare bureaucracies and police tactics, market research and workplace testing, scientific inquiry and computer data banks, tell-all memoirs and social media all propelled privacy to the foreground of U.S. culture. Jurists and philosophers but also ordinary people weighed the perils, the possibilities, and the promise of being known. In the process, they redrew the borders of contemporary selfhood and citizenship. The Known Citizen reveals how privacy became the indispensable language for monitoring the ever-shifting line between our personal and social selves. Igo's sweeping history, from the era of "instantaneous photography" to the age of big data, uncovers the surprising ways that debates over what should be kept out of the public eye have shaped U.S. politics and society. It offers the first wide-angle view of privacy as it has been lived and imagined by modern Americans.-- Résumé de l'éditeur A Washington Post Book of the Year Winner of theMerle Curti Award Winner of the Jacques Barzun Prize Winner of theRalph Waldo Emerson Award "A masterful study of privacy."-Sue Halpern, New York Review of Books "Masterful (andtimely)...[A] marathon trek from Victorian propriety to social mediaexhibitionism...Utterly original." -Washington Post Everyday, we make decisions about what to share and when, how much toexpose and to whom. Securing the boundary between one's privateaffairs and public identity has become an urgent task of modernlife. How did privacy come to loom so large in publicconsciousness? Sarah Igo tracks the quest for privacy from theinvention of the telegraph onward, revealing enduring debates overhow Americans would-and should-be known. The Known Citizenis a penetrating historical investigation with powerful lessons forour own times, when corporations, government agencies, and dataminers are tracking our every move. "A mighty effort to tell thestory of modern America as a story of anxieties about privacy...Showsus that although we may feel that the threat to privacy today isunprecedented, every generation has felt that way since theintroduction of the postcard." -Louis Menand, New Yorker"Engaging and wide-ranging...Igo's analysis of state surveillancefrom the New Deal through Watergate is remarkably thorough andinsightful." -The Nation Every Day Americans Make Decisions About Their Privacy: What To Share, How Much To Expose To Whom. Securing The Boundary Between Private Affairs And Public Identity Has Become A Central Task Of Citizenship. Sarah Igo Pursues This Elusive Social Value Across The Twentieth Century, As Individuals Asked How They Should Be Known By Their Own Society.