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Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

Surveillance

Power, Problems, and Politics

Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

Surveillance

Power, Problems, and Politics

Surveillance is commonly rationalized as a solution for existing problems such as crime and terrorism. This book explores how surveillance, often disguised as risk management or harm reduction, is also at the root of a range of social and political problems. Canadian scholars from diverse disciplines interrogate the moral and ideological bases as well as the material effects of surveillance in policing, consumerism, welfare administration, disaster management, popular culture, moral regulation, news media, social movements, and anti-terrorism campaigns.

296 pages | © 2009


Table of Contents

Foreword / Kevin D. Haggerty

Introduction / Sean P. Hier and Josh Greenberg

1 The Politics of Surveillance: Power, Paradigms, and the Field of Visibility / Sean P. Hier and Josh Greenberg

Part 1: Stigma, Morality, and Social Control

2 Kid-Visible: Childhood Obesity, Body Surveillance, and the Techniques of Care / Charlene D. Elliott

3 Police Surveillance of Male-with-Male Public Sex in Ontario, 1983-94 / Kevin Walby

4 A Kind of Prohibition: Targets of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s Interdiction List, 1953-75 / Scott Thompson

Part 2: Environmental Design, Consumerism, and Privacy

5 Natural Surveillance, Crime Prevention, and the Effects of Being Seen / Patrick F. Parnaby and C. Victoria Reed

6 Administering the Dead: Mass Death and the Problem of Privacy / Joseph Scanlon

7 Identity Theft and the Construction of Creditable Subjects / Sheryl N. Hamilton

Part 3: Genetics, Security, and Biometrics

8 From Bodily Integrity to Genetic Surveillance: The Impacts of DNA Identification in Criminal Justice / Neil Gerlach

9 Communication and the Sorrows of Empire: Surveillance and Information Operations “Blowback” in the Global War on Terrorism / Dwayne Winseck

10 Bio-Benefits: Technologies of Criminalization, Biometrics, and the Welfare System / Shoshana Magnet

Part 4: Participatory Surveillance and Resistance

11 Public Vigilance Campaigns and Participatory Surveillance after 11 September 2001 / Mike Larsen and Justin Piché

12 Cell Phones and Surveillance: Mobile Technology, States, and Social Movements / Simon J. Kiss

13 Subverting Surveillance Systems: Access to Information Mechanisms as Tools of Counter-Surveillance / Laura H

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