Issues In Crime - Surveillance Flashcards
Foucault
The few (the powerful) control the behaviour of many, the many don’t know they’re being watched.
Panopticon - model of how power operates in society as a whole, remember the prison where the guards can watched over everyone at any time - they have the behave at all times. This is called self-surveillance. Control happens inside the prisoner.
This affects all society,
Disciplinary Power is his everywhere and everyone is subjected to it, surveillance is everywhere especially through CCTV. Surveillance works in schools, workplaces, hospitals etc.
Foulcault AO3:
CCTV is not always effective in preventing crime.
Norris found that CCTV may reduce crime in car parks, it had little to no effect on other crime and may just cause displacement.
Synoptic Surveillance
Allows the many to watch the many, it is not just the few who have the tools.
Mathiesen - Foulcault’s account of surveillance only tells half the story when applied to today’s society. Mathiesen argues that the panopticon may have allowed the few to watch the many, but today the media allows the many to watch the many.
In late modernity, there is an increase from all aspects, top-down and from below.
This is nwhat he calls the ‘Synopticon’, everyone watches everyone e.g. dash cams, cams on doorbells, people filming everything etc.
Synoptic Surveillance AO3:
The idea of synopticon is limited. E.g. under anti-terrorism laws, police have power to confiscate cameras which stops people from filming injustice. This benefits the ruling class, as less awareness would be spread about the problems in a capitalist society.
Liquid Surveillance
Flexible and mobile, surveillance will fill any gap - everything is always being monitored.
Bauman & Lyon - in today’s modern world, surveillance has become fluid. Everyone is always on the mice, so surveillance has had to watch up and also always be on the move.
Everything that can be watched, will be watched.
Some examples:
Travelers - at passport control, they have body scanners that check every detail of the traveler,
Consumers - loyalty cards, cookies on websites, scanning goods,
Social media user - putting in personal details to create an account, this information is stored.
Liquid surveillance therefore acts as a big brother. Today’s world is a post-panoptical.
The also then creates self surveillance, everyone is always conscious if they’re being watched, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Liquid Surveillance AO3:
This type of surveillance leads to labelling and discrimination. CCTV makes discriminatory judgments about who they should focus monitoring.
Norris and Armstrong - there is a massive disproportionate targeting of young black males, for no reason.
The judgements about who to then prosecute are made based on typifications. Which could result in self-fulfilling prophecies, which would lead to an increase in crime rates.
