Privacy cynicism as a product of structural constraints and a form of social privilege: a precarious protection hypothesis

This chapter advances a precarious protection hypothesis (PPH) to predict how socioeconomically and demographically marginalized groups respond to online privacy risks. It integrates both resource- and identity-based theoretical accounts to argue that, because marginalized groups are motivated to secure their limited resources, they perceive high privacy threats and engage in privacy protection frequently, which helps them overcome privacy cynicism. Through the lens of the PPH, privacy itself can be viewed as an intangible asset, and online privacy loss entails negative real-life consequences. Privacy cynicism can be understood as a reflection of social privilege that resourced individuals can better enjoy. The chapter concludes by addressing conceptual and operational issues in the privacy and marginalization scholarship and providing future directions.