Techno-securitisation of everyday life and cultures of surveillance-apatheia

Ellis, Darren

Abstract

As a result of digital technologies and the internet becoming increasingly ubiquitous, security technologies and surveillance systems are progressively encroaching upon peoples’ privacy. Yet concerns about this appear to be relatively muted. Why is this the case? Is the public generally indifferent about it or perhaps silently in agreement with its increased presence? As techno-security systems are becoming increasingly complex, multiple, normative, hardly recognisable, often covert and all encompassing, positioning oneself in relation to them can be a difficult process. Hence the techno-securitisation of everyday life has psychological effects which are multiple and largely unconscious. Indeed, we are all somewhat uncertain about the spin-offs of surveillance technologies and practices–in terms of their capabilities, who has access to the data they produce, and the ways that they might affect subjectivity. Rather than being plainly indifferent or silently consenting to increased techno-securitisation, some participants in this study developed an attitude of surveillance-apatheia. They tended to state that ‘as there is no avoiding these systems and not much one can do about them, why consciously worry about them?’ This attitude is not necessarily a lack of interest, but rather a way of managing associated undesirable affects, feelings and emotions.

Citation

Ellis, D. (2020). Techno-securitisation of everyday life and cultures of surveillance-apatheia. Science as Culture, 29(1: Technosecurity Cultures), 11-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2018.1561660

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jan 3, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 2, 2020
• Deposit Date: Feb 7, 2023
• Journal: Science as Culture
• Print ISSN: 0950-5431
• Electronic ISSN: 1470-1189
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 1: Technosecurity Cultures
• Pages: 11-29
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2018.1561660
• Keywords: Sociology; Cultural Studies; Biotechnology; Surveillance-Apatheia; Surveillance; Techno-security; Affect
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10336887
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09505431.2018.1561660