Stuck in cyberspace: Shifting power in the information age

The rise of the Internet has provided opportunities for universal access to communication platforms, but it has also reinforced the infrastructure of centralized surveillance, further polarizing the societal tension between grassroots liberation and hierarchical control. The following thesis investigates the impact of these changes in various social and political spheres. Utilizing a harmonious theoretical framework which incorporates the values of Community Psychology, with the reflexive philosophical methods of Michel Foucault, the thesis highlights the fluid nature of truth and social power. Throughout eight essays, these notions of truth and power are probed at individual, interpersonal, and collective levels. At the individual level, these topics include the effect of technological devices in people's everyday lives, the increasing automation of human environments, and the manner in which search engines and other sources of knowledge shape conceptions of truth. At the interpersonal level, the topics addressed include labels of deviance and public shaming, and the chasm between apathy and activism online. Finally, at the collective level, these essays address the tension between government surveillance and hacker communities, reformed concepts of labour under the sharing economy, and the innovation of disadvantaged global communities who utilize technology to improve their shared quality of life.