SocProf reviewed Culture of Surveillance by David Lyon
Review of 'Culture of Surveillance' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I have long been a fan of David Lyon's work on the surveillance society. In this latest volume, he conceptualizes the culture of surveillance where surveillance, far from just being just limited to the state or the corporate sector, surveillance has become part of everyday life and most of the watching is done by users. In this sense, the surveillance culture involves watching, being watched, making oneself visible (obligatory Goffman reference) all as part of the business of everyday life. Gone are the conceptualizations based on an Orwellian surveillance state, or the image of the ubiquitous CC TV cameras on the street. Surveillance now is participatory, gamified, and much more capillary. Surveillance is not part of the entire lifecourse, where infants are monitored through apps all the way to the nursing homes where seniors can be digitally monitored. Surveillance has become intimate and privatized (both in the sense of dealt …
I have long been a fan of David Lyon's work on the surveillance society. In this latest volume, he conceptualizes the culture of surveillance where surveillance, far from just being just limited to the state or the corporate sector, surveillance has become part of everyday life and most of the watching is done by users. In this sense, the surveillance culture involves watching, being watched, making oneself visible (obligatory Goffman reference) all as part of the business of everyday life. Gone are the conceptualizations based on an Orwellian surveillance state, or the image of the ubiquitous CC TV cameras on the street. Surveillance now is participatory, gamified, and much more capillary. Surveillance is not part of the entire lifecourse, where infants are monitored through apps all the way to the nursing homes where seniors can be digitally monitored. Surveillance has become intimate and privatized (both in the sense of dealt by the private sector and dealing with private aspects of lives). The boundaries between the Goffmanian frontstage and backstages have melted (no surprise that Bauman's liquid society ideas are mentioned multiple times in the book). For Lyon, the correct dystopia that best reflects our time is not 1984, but Dave Eggers' The Circle. If you have read that book, it won't be surprising. Black Mirror's Nosedive makes an appearance as well (I suspect at time of writing, the Archangel episode had not been released yet).
As always with David Lyon, there is a lot to think about. I would have loved more specific examples worked more thoroughly. The book is at times a bit dry and too abstract for this topic. But it is an important topic. This book should have received the same level of publicity that Zuboff's book got.
I walked away with a lot of research articles discovered through the book, a lot of new research authors to explore. Just for that, it was well worth it.