
Surveillance
A Very Short Introduction
David Lyon(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 2. May 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-0-19-879684-8 (ISBN)
Description
Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring
Surveillance permeates every aspect of our lives today. Once a more limited and often remote aspect of social life, today surveillance is central to political, economic, and everyday life. Every click on the keyboard, every call, text or email, every purchase, every contact with a doctor or the police or a government department, each time you walk under a video camera or pass through a security check, and in many other ways, you are recorded, identified, traced, and tracked. Who processes this free-flowing data, how, and with what consequences, is a critical question affecting everyone.
This is not an alien conspiracy. It is the way today's digitally-dependent world works. Surveillance is not inherently good or bad but neither is it neutral. It urgently needs to be understood better because people's lives and life-chances depend on it. Today surveillance is central to doing business, meeting friends, organizing governance, maintaining security, and being entertained. Surveillance requires not just exploration and understanding but ethical guidance and political debate. How you get credit or welfare benefits or get on a no-fly list or are ranked as a consumer depends on surveillance. This Very Short Introduction investigates how surveillance makes people visible, how it grew to its present size and prevalence, how it came to rely on technologies of data-handling, and how it developed its own cultural features. Throughout, David Lyon also considers the ethics of surveillance, and explores its potential in prompting political struggles.
ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Surveillance permeates every aspect of our lives today. Once a more limited and often remote aspect of social life, today surveillance is central to political, economic, and everyday life. Every click on the keyboard, every call, text or email, every purchase, every contact with a doctor or the police or a government department, each time you walk under a video camera or pass through a security check, and in many other ways, you are recorded, identified, traced, and tracked. Who processes this free-flowing data, how, and with what consequences, is a critical question affecting everyone.
This is not an alien conspiracy. It is the way today's digitally-dependent world works. Surveillance is not inherently good or bad but neither is it neutral. It urgently needs to be understood better because people's lives and life-chances depend on it. Today surveillance is central to doing business, meeting friends, organizing governance, maintaining security, and being entertained. Surveillance requires not just exploration and understanding but ethical guidance and political debate. How you get credit or welfare benefits or get on a no-fly list or are ranked as a consumer depends on surveillance. This Very Short Introduction investigates how surveillance makes people visible, how it grew to its present size and prevalence, how it came to rely on technologies of data-handling, and how it developed its own cultural features. Throughout, David Lyon also considers the ethics of surveillance, and explores its potential in prompting political struggles.
ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
11 black and white images
Dimensions
Height: 171 mm
Width: 110 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
150 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-879684-8 (9780198796848)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2024
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€9.49
Available for download

E-Book
06/2024
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€9.49
Available for download
Person
David Lyon is former Director of the Surveillance Studies Centre and Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Law at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. He has directed several large-scale international research projects on surveillance, and has authored or edited a number of books, including The Culture of Surveillance (2018) and Surveillance after Snowden (2025). He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2008.
Author
former Director of the Surveillance Studies Centre and Professor Emeritus of Sociology and LawProfessor, Queen's Research Chair in Surveillance Studies, Queen's University
Content
1: Visible lives: invisible watchers
2: Visible lives: invisible watchers
3: Surveillance technologies in context
4: Data-driven surveillance: new challenges
5: Surveillance culture: an everyday reality
6: Questioning surveillance: critical probes
7: Encountering surveillance: What to do?
7: Surveillance: an optics of hope
Further Reading
Index
2: Visible lives: invisible watchers
3: Surveillance technologies in context
4: Data-driven surveillance: new challenges
5: Surveillance culture: an everyday reality
6: Questioning surveillance: critical probes
7: Encountering surveillance: What to do?
7: Surveillance: an optics of hope
Further Reading
Index