Surveillance theories since foucault
- Created by: rebeccamellors
- Created on: 14-02-17 10:16
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- Surveillance Theories since Foucault
- Synoptic Surveillance
- Mathiesen (1997) argues Foucault's account of surveillance only tells half the story when applied to today's society
- In his view, while the Panopticon allows the few to monitor the many, today the media enables the many to see the few
- In late modernity there is an increase in the top-down, centralised surveillance but also in surveillance from below
- Calls this Synopticon - where everybody watches everybody
- Thompson (2000) argues powerful groups such as politicians fear the media's surveillance of them may uncover damaging information about them
- Acts as a form of social control over them & their activities
- However McCahill (2012) argues, occasional bottom-up scrutiny may be unable to reserve established 'hierarchies of surveillance'
- For example, under anti-terrorism laws, police have powers to confiscate cameras & mobile phones of 'citizen journalists
- Mathiesen (1997) argues Foucault's account of surveillance only tells half the story when applied to today's society
- Surveillant Assemblages
- Haggerty & Ericson (2000) argue, surveillance technologies now involve the manipulation of virtual objects in cyberspace rather than physical bodies in physical space
- There's now an important trend towards combining different technologies
- Call these combinations 'Surveillant assemblages'
- suggest we are moving towards a world in which data from different technologies can be combined to create a sort of 'data double' of the individual
- Actuarial Justice & Risk Management
- Feeley & Simon (1994) argue a new 'technology of power' is emerging throughout the justice system
- Differs from Foucault's disciplinary power in 3 min ways:
- Focuses on groups rather than individuals
- Not interested in rehabilitating but simply preventing offending
- Uses calculations of risk or 'actuarial analysis'
- Differs from Foucault's disciplinary power in 3 min ways:
- The aim of surveillance isn't to correct, treat or rehabilitate, instead it seeks to predict & prevent future offending
- According to Feeley & Simon it does so by applying surveillance techniques 'to identify, classify & manage groups sorted by levels of dangerousness
- Young (1999) notes, actuarial justice is basically a damage imitation strategy to reduce crime by using statistical information to pick out likely offenders
- Actuarial Justice is in danger of self-fulfilling prophecy
- Feeley & Simon (1994) argue a new 'technology of power' is emerging throughout the justice system
- Labelling & Surveillance
- Research shows that CCTV operators make discriminatory judgements about who among the thousands of potential 'suspects' appearing on their screens they should focus on
- Norris & Armstrong (1999) found there is 'a massively disproportionate targeting' of young black males for no other reason that their membership of that particular social group
- Such judgements based on 'typifications' or stereotypical beliefs held by those operating surveillance systems about who are likely offenders
- Could lead to self-fulfilling prophecy in which criminalisation of some groups is increased
- Criminalisation of other groups is lessened because their offences are iignored
- Could lead to self-fulfilling prophecy in which criminalisation of some groups is increased
- Synoptic Surveillance
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