Exploring technology and surveillance in margaret atwood’s oryx and crake

• Main Author: Kouhestani, M.
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: HS Societies secret benevolent etc
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/14065/1/rp036_ICKCS_2012-K10044.pdf; http://eprints.um.edu.my/14065/

The development of science and technology has entirely changed the role of power and control in our contemporary society. The power that is decentralized and represented by no single government and has strongly connected with the influence of science and technology. In her thoughtful novel Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood investigates the emergence of global capitalism to its possible ends and the modern controlling system of society. Atwood’s Oryx and Crake precisely depicts the contemporary society which is dominated by the multinational capitalism that Jameson explains. The novel represents the cultural and capitalistic development of our real world, and reveals how last capitalism transforms the hegemonic devices, such as Foucault’s panopticon and Baudrillard’s hyperreal to indicate the capitalistic control through mass media and technology. This paper attempts to utilize Atwood’s Oryx and Crake as a model that illustrates the world future society to examine our global environment and conceivable destiny. The result of this study shows us how the invisible power of science and technology is able to control the population for their own benefits without people even being aware of this constant surveillance that smoothly changes the taste and thought of society.