This module will look at the nature of risk and insecurity in Britain and will look at the role played by surveillance in countering risk and in creating a more secure society. The module will look primarily at surveillance by the state, and throughout the module the role played by surveillance in social sorting and in creating a more (un)equal society will be stressed.

Themes to be examined include: -
The nature of risk and the main sources of insecurity.
The meaning and definition of surveillance.
Techniques of surveillance
The growth of state bureaucracy and the need to collect information in times of urban squalor, warfare and welfare.
Surveillance, neo-liberalism and marketization.
Modern methods of policing, bobbies on the beat, Neighbourhood Watch, tagging and ASBOs.
The family, insecurity and surveillance
Medical surveillance
Citizenship, privacy and protecting individual rights
Minorities, surveillance and social sorting

Key Iinformation Set:
16% scheduled activities, 84% independent guided study

The 16% scheduled activities will comprise:
Ten traditional Lectures
Ten seminars
One introductory session (two hours)
One case-study preparation session in which students will be provided with formative feedback (two hours)
Seminars will be based on a `soap operaż in which students reflect upon and discuss the experiences of a fictional family in North Wales
Additional guidance, if needed, will be given on an ad hoc basis by appointment

The 84% guided independent learning activities will consist of: -
Guided reading
Secondary and Internet research
Primary research (where appropriate for the case study)
Preparation for scheduled sessions
Completion of assessment tasks

To supplement the lectures detailed lecture notes and other materials will be available to students on Blackboard.

Ball, K, et al. (2006) A Report on the Surveillance Society.
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/surveillance_society_full_report_2006.pdf [Copy will also be available on Blackboard]
Cochrane, A. & Talbot, D. (eds., 2008) Security: Welfare, Crime and Society. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Dandeker, C. (1990) Surveillance, Power and Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Gidden, A (1990) The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Higg, E. (2003) The Information State in England. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan
Lyon, D. (2007) Surveillance Studies: An Overview. Cambridge: Polity http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=X_XcZS5BmuQC&pg=PP1&dq=Surveillance+Studies+An+Overview [23rd April 2009]
Orwell, G. (1949) Nineteen Eighty-Four. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Ratcliffe, J. H. (2008) Intelligence-led Policing. Abingdon: Willan Publishing

Library based Resources
Computers with Internet Access for Accessing Blackboard
Rooms suitable for group work

A case study of approximately 2,500 words [Learning Outcomes 1-4]

Key Information Set:
100% coursework