SOC6013 - Surveillance Societies

Objectives:

Assessment tasks are designed to enable students to demonstrate the Learning and Employability outcomes for the relevant level of study. Level Learning Outcomes are embedded in the assessment task(s) at that level. This enables a more integrated view of overall student performance at each level.

Content:

This module provides students with a critical introduction to Surveillance Studies. Grounded within Sociology, Surveillance Studies is a transdisciplinary field that works to understand and examine the role and impact of surveillance technologies and practices on everyday life. This module will introduce students to the foundational theories within the field and will equip them with the knowledges needed to critically assess surveillance in contemporary society.

A core part of this module deals with the inequalities and injustices perpetuated and generated by the development and expansion of surveillance technologies, in particular, how those technologies are intimately connected with the surveillance of black and minority ethnic populations throughout history.

Themes the module will deal with include, but are not limited to: histories of surveillance, theories of surveillance, surveillance cultures, ethics and surveillance; self-surveillance and self-tracking’ anonymity and privacy in a surveillance society, surveillance inequalities, surveillance capitalism, and surveillance futures.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Lectures
Hours: 20
Intended Group Size: Cohort

Workshop
Hours: 20
Intended Group Size: 30

Guided independent study
Hours: 260

Further details relating to assessment
Assessment 1 – Movie Review – Students will be required to write a critical review of the representation of surveillance technology within a chosen film from a curated list. This review will require students to critically engage with the position, function, image, and representation of surveillance technology within popular culture. The review should offer an academic account of the film, drawing on appropriate theory and evidencing with relevant news stories to position the movie within a specific sociocultural context.

Assessment 2 – Exposition – Students will be required to respond to a set question asking them to account for the most pressing contemporary or future problem in relation to surveillance technology. Students will critically draw on relevant surveillance theory, research studies, news sources, to put forward an argument that demonstrates why their chosen problem is the most urgent.

Assessment 3 – Case Study Essay – Students will be required to focus on a topic of their choosing in relation to the module content that critically examines a contemporary surveillance related issue. Students will demonstrate their engagement with the material of the module by examining the historical, cultural, political, and ethical debates and implications of their chosen case. At the heart of surveillance matters are questions of inequality and power, students must examine these ideas within this case study essay.

Assessment:

Fact File

Module Coordinator - PRS_CODE=
Level - 6
Credit Value - 30
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered -

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