A rich sociological analysis of how and why we use anonymity.
In recent years, anonymity has rocked the political and social landscape. There are countless examples: An anonymous whistleblower was at the heart of President Trump’s first impeachment, the hacker group Anonymous compromised more than 77 million Sony accounts, and best-selling author Elena Ferrante resolutely continued to hide her real name and identity. In Anonymous, Thomas DeGloma draws on a fascinating set of contemporary and historical cases to build a sociological theory that accounts for the many faces of anonymity. He asks a number of pressing questions about the social conditions and effects of anonymity. What is anonymity, and why, under various circumstances, do individuals act anonymously? How do individuals accomplish anonymity? How do they use it, and, in some situations, how is it imposed on them?
To answer these questions, DeGloma tackles anonymity thematically, dedicating each chapter to a distinct type of anonymous action, including ones he dubs protective, subversive, institutional, and ascribed. Ultimately, he argues that anonymity and pseudonymity are best understood as performances, in which people obscure personal identities as they make meaning for various audiences. As they bring anonymity and pseudonymity to life, DeGloma shows, people work to define the world around them to achieve different goals and objectives.
By:
Thomas DeGloma
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 1
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 399g
ISBN: 9780226765136
ISBN 10: 022676513X
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 30 November 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Chapter 1. Anonymous Acts The Social Dynamics of Anonymous Acts Naming, Namelessness, and Pseudo-Names Freedom and Constraint in the Breach of Personal Identity The Exhibitionist and the Voyeur: Anonymity and Information Control Impersonal Agencies: Someone, Anyone, Everyone, and No One Culture and Meaning in the Performance of Anonymity Outline of the Book Chapter 2. Protective Anonymity Concealed Authorship and the Performance of Elena Ferrante Social Ethics of Anonymity Anonymous Altruism and Charity The Screened Confession and the Masquerade The Impartiality of Impersonality and the Performance of Academic Evaluation Anonymous Communities and Forums Anonymous Therapeutics and the Case of Alcoholics Anonymous Computer-Mediated Anonymous Forums Anonymous Consumption and Exchange Exploiting Protective Anonymity Chapter 3. Subversive Anonymity Subversive Art and Literature Masked Social Movements and Anonymous Rebellion The Religious, Theatrical, and Festive Roots of Masked Social Protest Masked Movements and Their Subversive World Orders The Anonymous Performances of Ku Klux Klan Terror Performing the Digital Guerrilla Insurgency: The Hacker Networks of Anonymous The Klan and Anonymous: Shared Characteristics of Subversive Anonymity FBI Counterintelligence and the Anonymous Subversion of Subversive Activity Chapter 4. The Anonymity of Social Systems Institutions and Systems as Cover Representations Wall Street and the Financial Crisis Corporate Personhood and Electoral Politics The NSA, Big Tech, and Electronic Surveillance Distance Killing and the Nation at War The Modern State as “Humane” Executioner Anonymous Labor and Systems of Production Chapter 5. The Anonymity of Types and Categories Typification and Social Performance Anonymous Others in Situated Encounters The Anonymity of Class and Occupation Anonymous Sex Racial Typification, Law Enforcement, and Police Violence Cisgaender Typification and the Segregation of Public Restrooms Analytic Typifications Chapter 6. The Social Contradictions of Our Hidden Identities Unmasking Acts Acknowledgments Notes References Index
Thomas DeGloma is associate professor of sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He is the author of Seeing the Light: The Social Logic of Personal Discovery and coeditor of Interpreting Contentious Memory: Countermemories and Social Conflicts Over the Past and The Oxford Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism.
Reviews for Anonymous: The Performance of Hidden Identities
"“Anonymous does what sociology does best: to take a concept (in this case anonymity and pseudonymity) and explore it as a performative practice, a practice of sociality, and as linked to institutional structures. This book is a major addition to the sociological canon.” -- Gary Alan Fine, author of Fair Share: Senior Activism, Tiny Publics, and the Culture of Resistance ""Attention must be paid! In this performance, grounded in the traditions of symbolic interaction, Thomas DeGloma has produced a foundational book for an emerging field, a field badly in need of one. As digital technologies continue to alter the, meaning, discovery, hiding and validation of identity, understanding anonymity and its’ extended family (e.g. pseudonymity, pseudo-anonymity, secrecy, privacy, surveillance and so much more), is ever more important. The book’s useful concepts bring coherence and integration to a plentitude of engaging empirical examples across cultures and time periods. Most welcome!"" -- Gary T. Marx, author of Windows into the Soul: Surveillance and Society in an Age of High Technology ""DeGloma's book is a masterful work of scholarship, creative, and wry, identifying the formal characteristics of interactions that link many different areas of social action. . . . a conceptually and empirically engrossing and delightful read. . . Anonymous takes us on a perspective-bending ride, revealing what was hiding in plain sight."" * Symbolic Interaction *"
