ABSTRACT
The field of ‘surveillance studies’ has grown rapidly over the past two decades, spurred by both rapid developments in governance and new technologies on the one hand, and fresh initiatives in theoretical explanation on the other. While surveillance practices are as old as human history, they took some rather specific forms in the modern world, becoming routine and systematic, based especially on individuation and on bureaucratic organization (Dandeker 1990). From the last part of the twentieth century onwards, it became clear that new technologies would be implicated decisively in surveillance processes, as computer-based systems augmented older paper file and face-to-face modes (Marx 1988; Rule 1974). At the same time, the work of Michel Foucault stimulated new approaches to understanding surveillance. His book, Discipline and Punish (1979), was central to the new debates, even though surveillance appeared as a theme in several of Foucault's works.
