ABSTRACT

This chapter expands the textual and discursive analysis of UK discourses of surveillance with the aim of identifying the subject positions that are available to subjects, and mapping out their representations and articulations. It looks at traditional social and political theories of identity as subject positions and subjectivities. Subject positions are the way that identity is commonly understood in post-structural discourse theory approaches. The chapter examines the categories applied by broader discourses which represent and contextualise the card, as well as other technologies and practices of surveillance. In the government discourse, individuals have one legitimate identity, although this identity may have multiple component parts. This identity can be tied to them through biometrics, unique physical characteristics of the individual. Individuals lead relatively complex lives in the modern world, involving travel and complex financial transactions. Individuals produce personal data, and have records held about them.