Power, control, surveillance, and vulnerability in intimate relationships – digital technologies and care
Programme: VEGA 2/0063/23
Dates: 1. 1. 2023 – 31. 12. 2025
Principal investigator: Mgr. Zuzana Sekeráková Búriková, PhD.
Researchers: Mgr. Veronika Valkovičová, PhD., Mgr. Viera Poláková, Mgr. Miroslava Šudila Žilinská, PhD.
The key objective of this project is to study the dynamics of the relationship between power / control / vulnerability and care via research on the use of digital technologies within the field of intimate partner relationships. The theoretical background draws on the feminist ethics of care, digital anthropology, and science and technology studies.The project is exploratory in nature and combines quantitative and qualitative research methods: omnibus survey, focus groups with experts in the field of IT and practitioners (e.g. helping professions), along with in-depth interviews with people living in intimate relationships. We will examine practices, as well as their interpretations focusing on when - in which relationships and situations - digital technologies are interpreted as manifestations of care and tools of protection, and when they are interpreted as interfering with the autonomy of the individual, or tools of control and manifestations of violence.