Routledge Handbook of Surveillance Studies

Surveillance is now the primary tool for all organizations. Gathering personal data and processing them in searchable databases drives administrative efficiency but also raises questions about security, governance, civil liberties and privacy. Surveillance is both globalized in cooperative schemes such as sharing biometric data and localized in the daily minutiae of social life. This innovative Handbookexplores these vital issues. Starting with historical and theoretical viewpoints, the book clusters analysis around surveillance and population control; policing, intelligence and war; production and consumption; new media; security; identification; and regulation and resistance. Interwoven with these are the dynamics of digital technologies, political economies, contested lines between public and private, and the ambiguities of surveillance. As a multi-disciplinary field, Surveillance Studies draws on diverse traditions of scholarship and also acknowledges the global variations in causes, courses and consequences of surveillance. The Handbookexpresses these themes in ways that are both coherent and compelling.

Kirstie Ball is Reader in Surveillance and Organization at The Open University Business School. Her research focuses on surveillance and global capital, and the experience of surveillance. She co-founded the journal Surveillance Society and is a director of the Surveillance Studies Network. Kevin D. Haggerty is editor of the Canadian Journal of Sociology and book review editor of the international journal Surveillance Society. He is Professor of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Alberta and a member of the executive team for the New Transparency Major Collaborative Research Initiative. David Lyon holds a Research Chair in Surveillance Studies, is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's University, Canada.