About this Book

Surveillance is commonly rationalized as a practice to address existing political or social problems such as crime, fraud, and terrorism. This book explores how surveillance, disguised as managing risk or reducing harm, can cause a range of problems, including poverty, over-policing, and exclusion.

The scholars represented in this volume interrogate the moral and ideological bases and material effects of surveillance practices and systems in diverse cultural and institutional arenas: policing, consumerism, welfare administration, disaster management, popular culture, moral regulation, news media, social movements, and anti-terrorism campaigns.

Surveillance addresses and asks us to consider the question: How can we ensure a future in which surveillance and its consequences are not accepted as normal, or necessary, features of modern life?