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Gustavo S. Mesch, Islands of Privacy By Christena Nippert-Eng The University of Chicago Press, 2010, 404 pages. $ 22.50 paper, Social Forces, Volume 93, Issue 3, March 2015, Page e79, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sos102
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Extract
The concept of privacy is based on the claim that society comprises relatively autonomous individuals who need privacy to be able to fulfill various social roles without interference. Over the years, there has been a growing concern about the violation of privacy. Information and communication technologies and surveillance devices collect large amounts of data on individuals, families and groups. Digital technologies are blurring the boundaries between home and work, private and public realms and the personal and the shared. Islands of Privacy is a timely book that investigates the average person's practices about privacy and its management. The book presents rich data that were obtained from in-depth interviews with 74 middle-class participants from the city of Chicago and participatory observation in various settings. The book attempts to illustrate the patterns of behavior that are used to achieve privacy and manage increasing demands for attention that arrive through different communication technologies.