Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life [Paperback]

William G. Staples (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0742500780 | ISBN-13: 978-0742500785 | Publication Date: November 15, 2000 | Edition: 2nd

This book highlights 'mundane' practices that increasingly influence our schools, homes and communities; cameras, Opagers', electronic monitoring instruments, the digital Opaper trailO of OcashlessO transactions, random drug testing, and Ointegrity testsO. The author journeys back and forth between the justice system and the everyday life of the postmodern to illustrate how the lines between these two spheres of social life are increasingly blurred by the use of new surveillance technologies. Taken together, these surveillance rituals constitute the building blocks of a rapidly emerging society of discipline, one increasingly stripped of personal privacy, individual trust, and a viable public life that supports and maintains democratic values and practices.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is very well written. . . . It offers a fascinating chronicle of the rage to invent new forms of surveillance, as well as pithy conceptualizations that organize the empirical materials nicely. As such, it clearly meets Staples's stated goal of providing an accesible undergraduate textbook. (Social Forces )

The suggestion made by Everyday Surveillance that a 'quiet revolution' is occuring in which we are all targets is a thought provoking one. It reminds us that we all are responsible for encouraging surveillance by being seduced by its promises, fearing the consequences without it and heralding it as society's salvation. The book flags up some new directions in which the study of visual, informational and communication technologies might profitably head. (British Journal Of Criminology )

Lively and engaging. Instructors looking for a sociological treatment of an interesting contemporary issue will find that this book would provoke discussion and debate among students in undergraduate or graduate courses. (Contemporary Sociology )

About the Author

Bill Staples is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kansas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; 2nd edition (November 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742500780
• ISBN-13: 978-0742500785
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthwhile and englightening read, July 8, 2003

By 

Niva Kramek (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life (Paperback)

Though you may not like what you find out. Staples manages to weave sociological theory effortlessly through this engaging book, which details our surveillance culture. His analysis is clear, thoughtful, and full of examples from each of our every-day lives. His ideas have a solid theoretical grounding, but offer an original assessment of what is actually behind all those cameras, all-to-frequent drug tests, rising prison populations and the knowledge that someone is always watching us. Without paranoia or exaggeration, Staples evokes perfectly the surveillance situation in which we are living, explaining how it came about, what it really does for (and to) us, and what's likely to happen in the future.