Peripheral Vision

Politics, Technology, and Surveillance

Inbunden, Engelska, 2013

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In Portugal between 2005 and 2010, “modernization through technology” was the major political motto used to develop and improve the country’s peripheral and backward condition. This study reflects on one of the resulting, specific aspects of this trend—the implementation of public video surveillance. The in-depth ethnography provides evidence of how the political construction of security and surveillance as a strategic program actually conceals intricate institutional relationships between political decision-makers and common citizens. Essentially, the detailed account of the major actors, as well as their roles and motivations, serves to explain phenomena such as the confusion between objective data and subjective perceptions or the lack of communication between parties, which as this study argues, underlies the idiosyncrasies and fragilities of Portugal’s still relatively young democratic system.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2013-10-01
Mått152 x 229 x 16 mm
Vikt408 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieEASA Series
Antal sidor176
FörlagBerghahn Books
ISBN9781782380238

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Politiskt förtryck inom Samhälle och politik
Antropologi inom Samhälle och politik

List of IllustrationsList of TablesAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Politics, technology and surveillancePeripheral Vision‘Surveillance studies’Anthropology, politics and policiesNotes on methodology and ethicsChapter 1. From dictatorship to democracy Backwardness as a syndromePolitical modernization: Salazar’s Estado Novo and the carnation revolutionThe country’s modernization: entry into the EEC and structural reformsFighting backwardness through technology: the Socrates EraChapter 2. Eye in the skyThe eye behind the eyeVideo surveillance in Portugal: Law No. 1/2005The National Video Surveillance ProgramVideo surveillance in the zona da Ribeira do PortoVideo surveillance in Baixa PombalinaThe protection of thousandsFirst evaluation of CCTV in public areasChapter 3. Policy-making: successes, failures, contradictionsData Protection AuthorityPolice forcePolitical forces and party strategies'Forgotten’ diagnosisChapter 4. Public Matters, Private Issues Public and private: a matter of opinionVideo surveillance: security and its nuancesPrivacy: a right for everyone?Chapter 5. The Quest for SecurityBarometers of (In)securityWhere danger comes fromFear, politics, economyConclusion: Modernization and BackwardnessReferences

“This is a valuable contribution to the field of surveillance studies, in that it broadens the perspective of many aspects of research on surveillance through political anthropology; and it adds a considerable perspective to anthropology itself, as it concentrates on surveillance as a phenomenon of anthropological research, proving it to be an important aspect of societies today, or even seen in a wider context, of societies in general.” · Nils Zurawski, Hamburg University“The author is not doing the usual technocentric study, but a sociopolitical, anthropological analysis with a critical theoretical and empirical approach, seriously considering the prolonged authoritarian surveillance past and its legacy, as well as the socioeconomic backwardness of this Southern European country.” · Minas Samatas, University of Crete