“If you weren’t operating in the light of day, what were you doing in the shadows?”: Surveillance in Twenty-first Century Speculative Fiction

Abstract

This thesis explores speculative fiction as a tool for examining the ethical, societal, and legal implications of surveillance and data-driven technologies. By analyzing The Circle by Dave Eggers, Followers by Megan Angelo, Going Zero by Anthony McCarten, and The Warehouse by Rob Hart, I investigate how speculative fiction imagines possible futures shaped by current technological and societal trends. This thesis draws on frameworks such as Shoshana Zuboff’s “psychic numbing” in the context of surveillance capitalism, Neil Postman’s idea of the Technopoly, and theories of datafication from Nick Couldry and Ulises Mejias to examine themes of surveillance, power imbalances, and the erosion of individual autonomy. I will also incorporate Nicholas Mirzoeff’s concepts of visuality and countervisuality to explore how figures of authority maintain power by regulating visibility, and how resistance emerges through attempts to reclaim what he terms “the right to look.”

The first chapter focuses on the digital panopticon, examining how pervasive surveillance in The Circle and Followers demonstrates the commodification of the human experience and the narrowing of individual agency in data-driven surveillance societies. The second chapter shifts to the question of power and exploitation as I look at how corporations in Going Zero and The Warehouse leverage surveillance technologies to consolidate control, perpetuate inequality, and undermine democratic principles. Through these narratives, I examine ways in which speculative fiction serves as both a critique of unchecked technological advancements and a tool for envisioning alternative futures, as well as paths to resistance.