Surveillance

A careful examination of surveillance as both cause and effect of social and political problems.

This book examines surveillance as both cause and effect of social and political problems.

Surveillance is commonly rationalized as a practice to address existing political or social problems such as crime, fraud, and terrorism. This book explores how surveillance, disguised as managing risk or reducing harm, can cause a range of problems, including poverty, over-policing, and exclusion.

The scholars represented in this volume interrogate the moral and ideological bases and material effects of surveillance practices and systems in diverse cultural and institutional arenas: policing, consumerism, welfare administration, disaster management, popular culture, moral regulation, news media, social movements, and anti-terrorism campaigns.

Surveillance addresses and asks us to consider the question: How can we ensure a future in which surveillance and its consequences are not accepted as normal, or necessary, features of modern life?