Event Title
Understanding the Evolution of the Surveillance State of the 21st Century
Location
Multicultural Center, Hardge Forum (Rm. 101)
Start Date
3-10-2014 11:00 AM
End Date
3-10-2014 11:50 AM
Description
Dr. David Murakami Wood, Associate Professor, Sociology, and Canada Research Director, Surveillance Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. This talk explores the history of surveillance from its rise as a tool of local dominance through its operation at the level of the nation‐state, to its emergence via colonialism, imperialism and economic globalization as a defining feature of global governance. The talk makes four main arguments. First, it establishes that there is in fact a contemporary globalization of a particular technocentric, risk‐based form of surveillance which has evolved in western / northern industrialized nation‐states. Second, this surveillance has a complex relationship with economic globalization. Third, the globalization of surveillance has not happened smoothly or simply, and it remains uneven in both range and penetration. Fourth, there are a huge variety of existing historical and cultural trajectories in particular place and the forms, operation, understanding and interactions of surveillance are mediated or moderated by these contexts of reception. It concludes that surveillance is indeed being globalized but that different kinds of surveillance societies are emerging with a range of characteristics.
Understanding the Evolution of the Surveillance State of the 21st Century
Multicultural Center, Hardge Forum (Rm. 101)
Dr. David Murakami Wood, Associate Professor, Sociology, and Canada Research Director, Surveillance Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. This talk explores the history of surveillance from its rise as a tool of local dominance through its operation at the level of the nation‐state, to its emergence via colonialism, imperialism and economic globalization as a defining feature of global governance. The talk makes four main arguments. First, it establishes that there is in fact a contemporary globalization of a particular technocentric, risk‐based form of surveillance which has evolved in western / northern industrialized nation‐states. Second, this surveillance has a complex relationship with economic globalization. Third, the globalization of surveillance has not happened smoothly or simply, and it remains uneven in both range and penetration. Fourth, there are a huge variety of existing historical and cultural trajectories in particular place and the forms, operation, understanding and interactions of surveillance are mediated or moderated by these contexts of reception. It concludes that surveillance is indeed being globalized but that different kinds of surveillance societies are emerging with a range of characteristics.