Cultures and Ethics of Sharing - Universität Innsbruck

Privacy on Social Networking Sites within a Culture of Exchange 93The individual as “proprietor of his own person and capacities” is then free to sell theirown labour capacity to others on markets, which enables Marx’s argument of the inversionof appropriation. “Possessive individualism” is a specific way of thinking and of self-conceptionthat makes individuals’ behaviour consistent with the structural requirements ofthe culture of exchange within a market-based capitalist society. The ideology of the individuals“as proprietors of themselves” (Macpherson, 1962, p. 264) is adequate for peopleto act within such structures.From the viewpoint of exchange (value appears as a property of things; therefore ownershipis important in order to be able to exchange them), it is necessary to justify privateproperty. It is important, on the one hand, for those who let other people work for thembecause it protects their greater wealth, but on the other hand, also for the workers whoneed private property in order to take part in exchange processes and to satisfy their needs.It is a characteristic quality of capitalism to mix up both functionalities of property, neglectingthe processes in the sphere of production that lies on the bottom of exchange. Thereare three main strands of justifiable theories (see Munzer, 2005; Spinello & Tavani, 2005):The first theory can be named “person theory” of property and can be found prominentlyin Hegel. It is assumed that the self cannot be really a self if it remains in itself. It has toextend it to the outer world. Only within this process of externalisation, self-becomingtakes place. Private property is justified as it overcomes the opposition between self andworld. The second strand, the so called “labour theory” of property, can be found in Lockeprominently. Labour theory of property says that, derived from a prior property right inone’s body, one gets the right to private property as revenue for (often exhaustingly)working on things. Private property is established when one mixes his or her labour withnature. Both strands of theory, following Locke and Hegel, are only rational within anatural right perspective that derives property from a context-less, “naturalistic” notion ofman and makes claims about the individual before it enters society. Both theories are instancesof reading back the demands of an economy of exchange into the nature of man.The third strand, put forward by authors, such as Bentham and Mill, is the “utility or efficiencytheory” of private property. In contrast to the natural right perspective, such a kindof theory argues more pragmatically in respect of the outcomes that are fostered by theinstitution of private property. Here, the idea is that private property establishes incentivesto work and to increase life standards because the single workers, due to guaranteed privateproperty rights, can be sure that they will profit from the fruits of their labour. Privateproperty, therefore, ensures that they will work better or harder and this should lead tohigher wealth for all society members, in consequence. “Utility or efficiency theory” ofprivate property is characterised as possessive individualistic insofar as social welfare isseen as the outcome of privately and isolated working people, and not primarily as a collaborativetask of society. All three justifiable strands merge an individualistic notion ofman into the justification of private property.