Core Module Information
Module title: Surveillance & Society

SCQF level: 10:
SCQF credit value: 20.00
ECTS credit value: 10

Module code: SSC10112
Module leader: Francesca Soliman
School School of Applied Sciences
Subject area group: Social Science
Prerequisites

n/a

Description of module content:

In this module you will look at the growth of the nation state and early forms of surveillance and how these have been challenged, refined, and adapted over time. You will consider notions of individual liberty and freedoms that accompanied the bourgeois revolutions of Western Europe and whether these ideals have been compromised with the growth of industrial capitalist society and the need for work discipline, time management and control. Within an analysis of organisational society, you will look at models of rationalisation, bureaucratisation, networking, and the supposed rise of `big brother’ and `total institutions’ drawing on the work of Weber, Foucault, Lyons and others. You will analyse traditional and new forms of surveillance drawing out the key techniques and technologies used and their social and cultural consequences. You will understand how, while surveillance is embedded through society, its social impact is unequally distributed, as individuals and groups are constantly sorted into categories attracting different levels of scrutiny. The work of Beck and Giddens on `risk society’ and Bauman on the fluidity and indeterminacy of contemporary social life along with the work of Furedi on the `culture of fear’ will provide useful heuristics that will enable you to develop a critical discourse of surveillant practice. You will consider how new surveillance technologies such as social media shape our understanding of and relationship with surveillance, and you will examine various forms of resistance to surveillance and their different aims, from privacy to social justice.

Learning Outcomes for module:

LO1: Critically evaluate the key dynamics and processes leading to the growth of surveillance cultures in our society, with emphasis on the contested nature of surveillance practices.
LO2: Critically evaluate and apply sociological literature on specific surveillance technologies, systems, and cultures.
LO3: Demonstrate a critical understanding of both `data mining’ and `systems creep’ and explain the dangers such systems of accounting and surveillance may pose.
LO4: Explain how logics of capital accumulation, time management and control contribute to embedding surveillance in contemporary society.
LO5: Evaluate the social impact of surveillance technologies and identify the unequal distribution of technology harms.


Full Details of Teaching and Assessment
2023/4, Trimester 2, FACE-TO-FACE, Edinburgh Napier University
VIEW FULL DETAILS
Occurrence: 001
Primary mode of delivery: FACE-TO-FACE
Location of delivery: SIGHTHILL
Partner: Edinburgh Napier University
Member of staff responsible for delivering module: Francesca Soliman
Module Organiser:


Student Activity (Notional Equivalent Study Hours (NESH))
Mode of activityLearning & Teaching ActivityNESH (Study Hours)
Face To Face Lecture 20
Face To Face Tutorial 10
Independent Learning Guided independent study 170
Total Study Hours200
Expected Total Study Hours for Module200


Assessment
Type of Assessment Weighting % LOs covered Week due Length in Hours/Words
Essay 50 1,2,3 7 HOURS= 00.00, WORDS= 2000
Essay 50 1,2,3,4,5 13 , WORDS= 2000
Component 1 subtotal: 50
Component 2 subtotal: 50
Module subtotal: 100

Indicative References and Reading List - URL:
SSC10112 Surveillance and Society