Surveillance(Topic 9)

Question 1

Surveillance

Answer 1

Monitoring of public behaviour for the purposes of population or crime control.Involves observing people’s behaviour to gather data about it and use the data to regulate or correct their behaviour
Example - CCTV cameras, automated number plate recognition, biometric scanning

Question 2

Foucault birth of prison

Answer 2

Sovereign power - monarch had power over people, control was inflicting visible punishment on the body such as public execution
Disciplinary power - seeks to also govern the mind and soul through surveillance called ‘technology of power’

Question 3

Example of disciplinary power

Answer 3

The panopticon - design for a prison where each prisoner was visible to guards from a central watchtower where they do not know if they’re being watched as a result behave at all times turning into self surveillance

Question 4

Criticisms

Answer 4

• Accused of wrongly assuming that emotional aspects of punishment disappear
• exaggerates the extent of control : Goffman says some inmates of prisons and mental hospitals are able to resist controls

Question 5

Synoptic surveillance

Answer 5

Also surveillance from below not just top down, now everybody watches everybody e.g Thompson argues powerful groups such as politicians fear the media’s surveillance acting as a form of social control over their activities
Widespread camera ownership means ordinary citizens now can control the controllers e.g filming police wrongdoing

Question 6

Actuarial justice and risk management

Answer 6

Aim is not to correct or rehabilitate instead predict and prevent future offending : Young notes it is a damage limitation strategy to reduce crime by using statistical information to pick out likely offenders

Question 7

Difference

Answer 7

-Focuses on groups
-Wants to prevent offending
-uses calculation of risk
E.g airport security screening checks which are based on known offender risk factors e.g age, ethnicity, religion

Question 8

Labelling

Answer 8

Research shows CCTV operators make discriminatory judgements about who are potential suspects to focus on , these are judgments based on stereotypical beliefs which can result in self fulfilling prophecy