ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book identifies the existence and extent of a governmental discourse of surveillance interacting with a number of other discourses and found in the statements of a range of political actors, including, government, independent agencies, financial institutions and the media. It starts from surveillance and governmentality theory and harness this to a particular discourse analysis approach, to better understand surveillance and identity in the contemporary United Kingdom. The articulation of identity analysed in the book is based upon a faulty construction of the normal individual with a normal lifestyle. Surveillance discourses strongly tie identity to permanent physical address in surveillance discourses, and as such complicate identity for the homeless or people with insecure accommodation. The articulation of identity as something that can be stolen misrepresents financial crime, as identity theft is most frequently credit fraud.
