The Maximum Surveillance Society: The Rise of CCTV

by Gary Armstrong, Clive Norris

Overview

The use of Closed-Circuit Television, or CCTV, has dramatically increased over the past decade, but its presence is often so subtle as to go unnoticed. Should we unthinkingly accept that increased surveillance is in the public's best interests, or does this mean that ‘Big Brother' is finally watching us? This book asks provocative questions about the rise of the maximum surveillance society. Is crime control the principal motivation behind increased surveillance or are the reasons more complex? Does surveillance violate peoples' right of privacy? Who gets surveilled and why? What are its implications for social control? Does surveillance actually reduce crime? What will developments in technology mean for the future of surveillance? What rights do individuals under surveillance have? How is the information gathered through CCTV used by the authorities? Based on extensive fieldwork on automated surveillance in Britain over a two-year period, this book not only attempts to answer these vexing questions, but also provides a wealth of detailed information about the reasoning behind and effects of social control.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781859732267
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/01/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Clive Norris University of Sheffield Gary Armstrong Lecturer,Department of Sport Science, Brunel University

Table of Contents

Part I: Images of Social Control, Introduction: Visions of Surveillance, A History of Photographic Surveillance and the Rise of CCTV, The Ever Present Gaze: CCTV Surveillance in Britain, The Selling of CCTV: Political and Media Discourses Part II: The Unforgiving Eye, Introduction: Watching the Watchers - Theory and Method, The Watchers and the Watched: The Social Structuring of Surveillance, Working Rules and the Social Construction of Suspicion, Communications and Consequences, From Images to Action: From the Control Room to the Street, Part III: Seeing the Future, Towards the Maximum Surveillance Society

Editorial Reviews

[A] landmark study.

The Big Issue

No one can miss the cameras; they're on the main roads, in the city streets, and in the stores. You can, however, mistake their meaning. The Maximum Surveillance Society offers a clear and nuanced reading of the social and political trends revealed in the recent rush to install CCTV cameras. With a wealth of day-to-day detail, and a sensitive use of theory, this book displays the grounded scholarly imagination at its best.

Avoiding both alarmism and complacency, the authors provide a timely analysis that demands widespread attention.

David Lyon

No one can miss the cameras; they're on the main roads, in the city streets, and in the stores. You can, however, mistake their meaning. The Maximum Surveillance Society offers a clear and nuanced reading of the social and political trends revealed in the recent rush to install CCTV cameras. With a wealth of day-to-day detail, and a sensitive use of theory, this book displays the grounded scholarly imagination at its best.

Avoiding both alarmism and complacency, the authors provide a timely analysis that demands widespread attention.” —David Lyon, Professor of Sociology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario

“[A] landmark study.” —The Big Issue

From the Publisher