Surveillance, technology and the everyday
| Author | Helen Wells,David Barnard-Wills |
| DOI | 10.1177/1748895812446644 |
| Published date | 01 July 2012 |
| Date | 01 July 2012 |
| Subject Matter | Themed Section: Surveillance, technology and the everyday |
Criminology & Criminal Justice
12(3) 227 –237
© The Author(s) 2012
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DOI: 10.1177/1748895812446644
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Surveillance, technology and
the everyday
David Barnard-Wills
Cranfield University, UK
Helen Wells
Keele University, UK
Keywords
Identity, policing, resistance, risk, surveillance, technology
Introduction and Aims of Themed Section
The collection of articles contained within this themed section all represent reflections
on empirical and theoretical research into various aspects of, and ways of imagining,
surveillance in crime control contexts. The significant unifying issue here is the ‘every-
day’ quality of the surveillance contexts under discussion, be that driving a car, surfing
the Internet, going shopping or simply using household objects. Surveillance, as Lyon
(2003: 13) notes, ‘has spilled out of its old nation-state containers to become a feature of
everyday life, at work, at home, at play and on the move’ and these articles seek to
explore the significance of, and issues presented by, what is arguably a more relevant set
of contexts for understanding contemporary surveillance than the often invoked panoptic
diagram. What is presented here does not reveal a co-ordinated, centrally administered
project, but a set of diverse practices and situations in which human agency combines
with technology in some very everyday contexts most likely familiar to us all. These are
not moments of exception, but of daily life.
The themed section engages with vulnerable and risky populations, surveillance as a
response to crime and other social problems, the ambivalent focus of policing gazes, the
power/knowledge relationships of representation of surveillance, reassurance, percep-
tion management, risk assessment and classification. Surveillance is therefore implicated
Corresponding author:
David Barnard-Wills, Cranfield University, Defence Academy of the UK, Shrivenham, Swindon, SN6 8LA,
UK
Email: d.barnardwills@cranfield.ac.uk
446644CRJ12310.1177/1748895812446644Barnard-Wills and WellsCriminology & Criminal Justice
2012
Article
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