Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched

by Mark Andrejevic

Drawing on cultural theory and interviews with fans, cast members and producers, this book places the reality TV trend within a broader social context, tracing its relationship to the development of a digitally enhanced, surveillance-based interactive economy and to a savvy mistrust of mediated reality in general. Surveying several successful reality TV formats, the book links the rehabilitation of 'Big Brother' to the increasingly important economic role played by the work of being watched. The author enlists critical social theory to examine how the appeal of 'the real' is deployed as a pervasive but false promise of democratization.

Genres: Tv, Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2003

About the author

Mark Andrejevic is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Fairfield University and author of Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched.

Reviews

[D. Travers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great analysis of reality TV not as media genre but as disciplinary practice that prepares interactive user-audiences for participation in the interactive, online economy. Looks at transformation of surveillance from ominous Big Brother threat to welcome, willing expression of (purported) individual identity and participation.

Smarter than most books on reality TV and of relevance for anyone interested in new media, interactivity, Foucault....

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was Dr. Mark Andrejevic's first book, and it is widely recognized as one of the most conceptually sophisticated works available on reality television for its ability to connect the rise of reality tv with the normalization of surveillance. He argued that just as programs such as Big Brother, The Real World and Road Rules provided justification for surveillance – it’s a route to celebrity, after all – they paved the way toward an emergent world of e-commerce in which people share all kinds of information about themselves online with no regrets (and with no recourse). In this book - published in 2003 - Andrejevic gestured toward the emergence of what we now call Big Data, tracing the way that control over customer data was becoming a necessity within digital capitalism. Reality television programs thus assisted in the reconceptualization of privacy that was necessary in order for corporations to harvest and profit fully from consumer information made readily available. And, at the same time, reality television, like e-commerce, offered the dubious promise of greater participation for consumers. Consumers feel that they play a more vital role in the decisionmaking that influences production, and this also makes them more willing to participate in surveillance, Andrejevic argued. He connected this participation with labor, noting that those featured on reality television participated in the “work” of being watched. But he also noted that this participation does not allow avenues toward democratic decisionmaking; rather, politics is reduced to personal promotion. This is an important book for people who are interested in how popular culture reflects AND SHAPES values in U.S. society.

[Sam Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really amazing book about so much more than reality TV. Don't be put off by the name. If your into contempory cultural critisim then this book cannot be missed!