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'Surveillance Society': Questions of History, Place and Culture

NCJ Number
227475
Journal
European Journal of Criminology Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2009 Pages: 179-194
Author(s)
David Murakami Wood
Date Published
March 2009
Length
16 pages
Annotation
In this article, the surveillance society is historically, spatially, and culturally examined.
Abstract
The term 'surveillance society' has become a central part of the emerging transdisciplinary narrative of surveillance studies, and is now found as much in criminology as in many of the other domains from which it draws. However, 'surveillance society' can appear to be somewhat monolithic. This article examines two key problems generated by today's use of the term 'surveillance society': its historical novelty and its general geographical or cultural generalizability. The article shows that the historical development of arguments about surveillance has caused changing ideas of the 'surveillance society', and that a contextual understanding of both surveillance and 'surveillance society' is crucial. In summation, while surveillance is involved with processes of globalization, it is not necessarily the same 'surveillance society' that is seen in different places and at different scales. References

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