John Gilliom and Torin Monahan, eds., SuperVision: An Introduction to the Surveillance Society

Abstract

John Gilliom and Torin Monahan, SuperVision: An Introduction to the Surveillance Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013, 188 pp., $22.50 paper, (0226924440) Surveillance studies is a new area of research and intellectual inquiry drawing from numerous scholarly disciplines including sociology, political science, and communications. Many books and articles have recently been published on surveillance practices, though not many of these monographs have been aimed toward first year students or other nonspecialist audiences. SuperVision provides an accessible introduction to issues in surveillance studies, assessing the pervasive growth of surveillance practices across the globe today. SuperVision is organized around ten big ideas that each chapter takes up to varying degrees. First, Gilliom and Monahan argue that established terminology such as privacy and Big Brother are no longer helpful for understanding how surveillance operates today. Second, not all surveillance is bad. Some of it, they argue, makes aspects of our lives more convenient and efficient. Third, not all surveillance is state surveillance. Private players are equally prominent on the surveillance stage. Fourth, surveillance not only entails us being watched by others but involves us watching others, which in turn shapes our sense of self. Fifth, not all surveillance is forced upon us. Some of it is participatory. Sixth, surveillance allows information to go many places faster than ever before, which in effect shrinks time and space. Seventh, surveillance is resisted. Not everyone participates in it or thinks it is a good thing. Eighth, surveillance can extend and intensify social inequality. To explain this point, Gilliom and Monahan focus on racism and discrimination in some chapters of SuperVision. Ninth, surveillance systems today involve cutting-edge technology. But elaborate and expensive monitoring systems fail as often as they work well. And finally, formal organizations are hungry for information. Collection and analysis of personal information is something that all formal organizations do. The first chapter in SuperVision examines the relationship between surveillance and the self, arguing that the kinds of surveillance we are subject to and participate in shape us as people. In the words of the authors, cell phones are the perfect symbol of the surveillance society (p. 11). They collect and relay information about us almost endlessly to an array of organizations, at the same time as they shape how we think of ourselves, who we communicate with, and what we know. …