The thesis deals with the logic, processes, techniques and technologies of modern (social) surveillance. The evolution of social surveillance is manifested by the transition from (formal) social surveillance of the predominantly public sphere of "individuals" in society to the increasingly "micro" surveillance of the private sphere of "dividuals" in society, in which modern surveillance technologies and techniques play a key role. The concept of "micro" surveillance refers to its invisibility (non-transparency), its embeddedness in the elements and processes of everyday life, and to surveillance techniques that pursue the micro inclinations or affects of individuals (users). The changes in surveillance can be explained by the shift from "panoptic" to "post-panoptic" theories of surveillance, by examples of surveillance techniques and technologies (algorithms and data extraction practices), by processes of cultural and machine singularisation that promote the logic of contemporary "micro" surveillance, and by cybernetics as a contemporary technology of power to explain the relationship between the human and non-human (technological) elements and factors of the system(s) of contemporary surveillance and the role of the (in)dividuals in them.
|