Sociality

Surveillance is typically conceived in public discourse as something that is imposed on individuals. Consider, for example, government-led monitoring of citizens or closed-circuit television cameras watching over a city center. Yet surveillance is also embedded in social relations. These include microlevel social interactions between family members, citizens, or coworkers. These relations can support conventional surveillance regimes, such as when citizens are encouraged to report their neighbors to the authorities. They can also undermine these regimes, such as when social ties between coworkers enable a culture of solidarity that resists workplace surveillance. As discussed in this entry, contemporary sociality is often performed through social media platforms, which further complicate the scope and consequences of surveillance.