Henry Giroux examines the surveillance practices widely used in contemporary society through the lens of George Orwell’s book “1984.” To the author the current data gathering mentality and environment created by private corporations and the government in USA surpasses the dystopian society created by Orwell. The author sees neoliberal politics from the last couple decades of the previous century as a main reason for creating the unequal power balance between the citizens of USA and the “corporate-state apparatus” (p.128).
He links surveillance societies with the absence of democratic practices, intentional targeting of political descendants, and governmental tendencies of passing laws and regulations which harm “principles of liberty and freedom” (p.127). To the author, surveillance not only diminishes and eliminates privacy, but is inherently connected with accumulation of power by various governmental agencies that leads to increased control over its citizens and to totalitarian regimes.