surveillance Flashcards
what is the definition of surveillance?
The monitoring of public behaviour for the purpose of crime control.
what is the difference between sovereign power and disciplinary power?
sovereign was when the monarch exercised absolute power over people and their bodies through physical punishment
whereas disciplinary is a form of control when discipline governs the mind body and soul
Explain the concept of the panopticon (disciplinary power)
The guard can watch each prisoner from a central watch tower but the prisoners cant see the guards.
prisoners don’t know if they are being watched but there’s a possibility they are.
what is the result of prisoners behaving as if they’re being watched 24/7
surveillance turns to self surveillance
discipline turns to self discipline
control takes place ‘inside’ the prisoner
explain Foucault’s theory of the panopticon (4 marks)
Foucault believes that social control ins now achieved through the threat of surveillance.
Citizens feel as though they are constantly being watched through mechanisms of social control. Because they feel their every move is being scrutinised they adapt their behaviour to ensure they wont be sanctioned as they dont know if they’re being scrutinised or not
A03 of the panopticon
panopticons in modern society are cctv cameras, theyre everywhere but are they on?
Norris (2012) found that by reviewing dozens of studies worldwide, CCTV reduced car park crime but had little to no effect on other crime and may have even caused displacement
koskela, a feminist, says CCTV is an extension of the male gaze because of the male operator which renders voyeurism, not very safe
what is the synopticon?
where everybody watches everybody
how do the public carry out synoptic surveillance?
the public use their phones to record public behaviour
how are powerful groups affected by surveillance?
they have to monitor their behaviour because they’re under consistent surveillance and scrutiny
surveillance of politicians can expose them
widespread cameras (dashcams, cameras on helmets) mean we can ‘control the controller’ eg filming police brutality
AO2 synoptic surveillance
McCahil ( 2012) synoptic surveillance can’t revers established ‘hierarchies of surveillance’ eg: police can confiscate phones
explain acturial justice and risk management
focuses on groups not individuals
aims to calculate and predict likelihood of different groups committing crime
screening checks at airports based on ‘risk factors’
people are profiled and given a risk score > anyone scoring above a certain level is stopped, questioned and searched
AO2: acturial justice and risk management
in 2010 West Midlands police sought to introduce a counter-terrorism scheme to surround two mainly Muslim suburbs of Birmingham with about 150 cameras some of them covert, thereby placing whole communities under suspicion.
AO3: acturial justice and risk management
leads to discriminatio and harassment and may not necessarily be effective
Gary Marx (1988) argues that this social sorting leads to ‘categorical suspicion’
explain post-modernism and surveillance
we are increasingly aware of the fact that we’re being watched
liquid surveillance > links to digital footprint and how we are monitored through tracking apps and debit cards
AO3: surveillance
- liquid surveillance is not always effective as criminals can steal IDs and credit cards, hide their faces and prevent a digital footprint
-surveillance has lead to many arrests of would-be terrorists before they carry out their plan
- left-realists argue that millions of pounds have been wasted on surveillance and should have been spend tackling relative deprivation and this would have yielded great rewards at achieving crime reduction.
