ABOUT THIS BOOK

A rich sociological analysis of how and why we use anonymity.

In recent years, anonymity has rocked the political and social landscape. There are countless examples: An anonymous whistleblower was at the heart of President Trump’s first impeachment, an anonymous group of hackers compromised more than 77 million Sony accounts, and best-selling author Elena Ferrante resolutely continued to hide her real name and identity. In Anonymous, Thomas DeGloma draws on a fascinating set of contemporary and historical cases to build a sociological theory that accounts for the many faces of anonymity. He asks a number of pressing questions about the social conditions and effects of anonymity. What is anonymity, and why, under various circumstances, do individuals act anonymously? How do individuals accomplish anonymity? How do they use it, and, in some situations, how is it imposed on them?

To answer these questions, DeGloma tackles anonymity thematically, dedicating each chapter to a distinct type of anonymous action, including ones he dubs protective, subversive, institutional, and ascribed. Ultimately, he argues that anonymity and pseudonymity are best understood as performances in which people obscure personal identities as they make meaning for various audiences. As they bring anonymity and pseudonymity to life, DeGloma shows, people work to define the world around them to achieve different goals and objectives.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Thomas DeGloma is associate professor of sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He is the author of Seeing the Light: The Social Logic of Personal Discovery and coeditor of Interpreting Contentious Memory: Countermemories and Social Conflicts Over the Past and The Oxford Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism.

REVIEWS

“Anonymous does what sociology does best: to take a concept (in this case anonymity and pseudonymity) and explore it as a performative practice, a practice of sociality, and as linked to institutional structures. This book is a major addition to the sociological canon.”

— Gary Alan Fine, author of Fair Share: Senior Activism, Tiny Publics, and the Culture of Resistance

"Attention must be paid! In this performance, grounded in the traditions of symbolic interaction, Thomas DeGloma has produced a foundational book for an emerging field, a field badly in need of one. As digital technologies continue to alter the, meaning, discovery, hiding and validation of identity, understanding anonymity and its’ extended family (e.g. pseudonymity, pseudo-anonymity, secrecy, privacy, surveillance and so much more), is ever more important. The book’s useful concepts bring coherence and integration to a plentitude of engaging empirical examples across cultures and time periods. Most welcome!"

— Gary T. Marx, author of Windows into the Soul: Surveillance and Society in an Age of High Technology

"DeGloma's book is a masterful work of scholarship, creative, and wry, identifying the formal characteristics of interactions that link many different areas of social action. . . . a conceptually and empirically engrossing and delightful read. . . Anonymous takes us on a perspective-bending ride, revealing what was hiding in plain sight."

— Symbolic Interaction

"... an ambitious, original, well-written, and well-researched study in which [DeGloma] shines a new sociological light on anonymity."

— Thaddeus Muller, American Journal of Sociology

“Anonymous both points out, and theorizes, a social dimension that we continuously struggle with as we both perform and mask our identities. By outlining anonymity in such a way, along with its possibilities and variations, the book is both important in its own right, and— as is the mark of a truly important project—an opening salvo in further theorizing this crucial aspect of social life.”

— Social Forces

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1. Anonymous Acts

Chapter 2. Protective Anonymity

Chapter 3. Subversive Anonymity

Chapter 4. The Anonymity of Social Systems

Chapter 5. The Anonymity of Types and Categories

Chapter 6. The Social Contradictions of Our Hidden Identities

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