Has Privacy Collapsed? Tiffany Jenkins on the Death of the Private Sphere

Описание: Iona Italia speaks with the cultural historian Tiffany Jenkins, author of Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Jenkins traces how the boundary between public and private life emerged—and how it has steadily eroded. From ancient Greece and the early Christian world to the Victorian age and the digital present, she explores how privacy was once understood as a precondition for freedom of conscience, moral responsibility, and pluralism.

The discussion also examines the role of technology in reshaping privacy, from innovations that once protected personal life to modern tools that expose it; the rise of identity as a public performance; the legacy of the slogan “the personal is political”; and the contemporary impulse to collapse interior life into public judgment.

Jenkins argues that the weakening of the private sphere has profound consequences for liberal society—and that recovering meaningful boundaries between public and private life may be one of the central political and cultural challenges of our time.

00:00 The Evolution of Public and Private Spheres
25:58 Technological Impacts on Privacy
38:57 The Personal is Political: A Shift in Perspective
40:32 The Personal is Political
42:55 The Shift from Public to Private
45:57 Character and Public Life
48:59 The Complications of Me Too
52:34 Social Media and Privacy
56:46 The Blurring of Public and Private
01:00:53 The Narcissism of the Digital Age
01:05:26 The Dilemma of Public Figures
01:09:30 The Need for Boundaries
01:13:45 Revaluing the Public Sphere




Quillette is an Australian-based online magazine that focuses on long-form analysis and cultural commentary. It is politically non-partisan, but relies on reason, science, and humanism as its guiding values.

Quillette was founded in 2015 by Australian writer Claire Lehmann. It is a platform for free thought and a space for open discussion and debate on a wide range of topics, including politics, culture, science, and technology.

Quillette has gained attention for publishing articles and essays that challenge modern orthodoxy on a variety of topics, including gender and sexuality, race and identity politics, and free speech and censorship.

---

Quillette's revenue comes from our readers. We are a grassroots organisation that relies on voluntary subscriptions and community membership as our primary revenue stream.

Support Quillette by becoming a subscriber: https://quillette.com/#/portal/signup

Or donate send us a one-off tip: https://quillette.com/#/portal/support

We made our website using Ghost, a powerful app for new-media creators to publish, share, and grow a business around their content. It comes with modern tools to build a website, publish content, send newsletters & offer paid subscriptions to members. Try it here: https://ghost.org/?via=claire91