Browsing by Author "Assma DJALAB"

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    Desire and Surveillance in The Digital Age: a Žižekian Reading of The Sublime Object of Ideology in Dave Eggers’ The Circle
    (UNIVERSITÉ MOHAMED BOUDIAF - M’SILA, 2024-06) Assma DJALAB
    In the ever-expanding digital age, Technology and social media fuel our desire for connection, yet it often operate under a system of pervasive surveillance. Dave Eggers' novel The Circle, portrays a dystopian future where a powerful tech company controls and monopolizes almost every aspect of people's lives. By utilizing this novel as a corpus, we aim to shed light on the dangers of unchecked technological control over human subjectivity. The dissertation contributes to critical discussions on technology, ideology, and the human condition by providing a nuanced understanding of the relationship between desire and surveillance in the digital age. Drawing on Slavoj Žižek's concept of the "Sublime Object of Ideology," which in turn uses a range of theories including Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis, the dissertation argues that the corporation named “The Circle,” with its pervasive surveillance and algorithmic manipulation embodies this notion. Overall, it concludes that surveillance can in fact construct desires. By constantly monitoring our online behaviour, algorithms can predict and even nudge our desires toward specific products, experiences, or even ideologies which raises concerns about free will and the erosion of our ability to form authentic desires independent of external manipulation