Theories of Surveillance

What are the six main theories of surveillance?

• Panopticon (Foucault)

• society of control (Deleuze)

• synoptic society

• surveillance assemblages (Haggerty & Ericson)

• risk management (Feeley & Simon)

• labelling

What is Foucault’s Panopticon theory?

• based on the Panopticon prison design of the 18th century

• “the few watch the many”

• surveillance is dispersed throughout society

• members of society move from one environment to another where they are watched and monitored for their behaviour (e.g., school, army barracks, factories, hospitals, etc.)

• individuals learn to discipline themselves as they know they could be being watched at any time, which they are forced to assume is always happening

How many times is a person living in a city (other than London) captured on CCTV each day?

70 times per day

How many times is a person living in London captured on CCTV each day?

300 times per day

What is a synoptic society?

• “everybody watches everybody”

• allows the many to see the few

• powerful groups fear damaging information about them being revealed (e.g., politicians)

• the public monitor each other (e.g., the public record police action at protests on their mobile phones)

What are some examples of recent celebrity/high profile cases where many have watched/monitored their behaviour?

• Boris Johnson’s Parliament lockdown parties

• Diddy

• Epstein

What is Deleuze’s society of control theory?

• surveillance is continuous and fluid, happening everywhere rather than in fixed institutions

• digital technology means individuals are not monitored in one point in time, but all the time

• people are no longer controlled in the enclosed institutions of disciplinary societies (e.g., schools, factories, prisons, hospitals)

What are some examples of how individuals are tracked all the time, and how digital technology is used as a tool of power?

• working from home changes office hours

• “cookies”

• GPS

• CCTV

What is the theory of surveillance assemblages?

• surveillance technologies now manipulate digital data

• technologies are now combined

• CCTV footage is combined with facial recognition software

• data from technologies can be combined into a “data double” of the individual

What different types of data can be compiled/merged to monitor individuals?

• Amazon shopping lists

• online shopping order history

• Google search history

• Google Maps trips

• GPS

• CCTV

• facial recognition

What is the theory of risk management?

• a “new technology of power”

• uses calculations of risk - calculates the statistical risk of particular events happening

• interested only in prevention, not rehabilitation

• uses information based on age, gender, religion, etc., to give each profile a “risk score”

• aims to predict and prevent future offending

What evidence is there of risk management at airports?

• security screen checks on known offender “risk factors”

• anyone whose “risk score” is above a given level is stopped, searched, questioned, etc.

What is the theory of labelling and surveillance?

• those operating surveillance (e.g., CCTV) make a choice about which groups in society to focus on

• judgements are based on typifications (stereotypical beliefs)

• can result in the self-fulfilling prophecy - some groups are increasingly criminalised as they are targeted more and their offences are revealed, whereas others’ offences are ignored

What evidence is there to support the theory of labelling and surveillance?

• in one city, CCTV cameras were capable of zooming in on vehicle tax discs - however, the city managers left un-taxed vehicles unchecked as they did not believe this was a suitable use of the technology (Ditton et. al)

• there is a ‘massively disproportionate targeting’ of young Black males simply for being members of that particular social group - they are more likely to be seen as “suspects” (Norris & Armstrong)