Surveillance and Society

This course provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of surveillance studies. Surveillance technologies and practices form an increasingly familiar part of our daily lives: data are made and shared as we commute, work, consume and browse. And yet, we know very little about how surveillance operates and how the data these systems produce are used to positively and negatively structure our social experiences, in terms of how we are viewed and responded to by other actors and agencies. Personal data are a means of knowledge and power and they are put to many different ends, from governing large populations to staging individual constructions of identity. This course considers some of the key historical events, organisational aspirations and cultural factors responsible for the emergence of surveillance societies. Students will learn about the political, social, legal and ethical dimensions and implications of mass surveillance, specifically by drawing on some of the major theories in surveillance studies. We explore the interests and values underpinning the expansion of surveillance, the types of regulatory frameworks governing surveillance, and the uneven distribution of negative impacts, especially along lines of race and gender. We will focus on various research examples to develop our knowledge and understanding of the social drivers and implications of surveillance. The four main questions informing our coverage are: 1. What social and historical circumstances have generated the surveillance society? 2. How did mass surveillance of everyday life become so normal? 3. What purposes and interests does surveillance serve? 4. How does surveillance operate and with what social consequences?