ISSUES IN SURVEILLANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL - 2027/8

Module Overview

This module explores how surveillance and social control relate to the institutional and interactional orders of Global South and Global South regions. In so doing it examines how individuals and groups seek to influence the behaviours of others and are also subject to regulatory forces that shape their own conduct, especially through the role of surveillance and social control technologies. It
considers the ways that these processes can give rise to crime and social deviance and pre-figure the efforts of agents of social control.

Within the topic, we cover issues including the digital capacities of control, particularly associated with the role of technology in social control. These analyses are further situated in international contexts from global and cultural capabilities perspectives, especially in encouraging thinking outside of Anglo-centric contexts. Practice
examples are offered throughout the module, to engage in assessing reactions to crime and social control technologies, utilizing resources to support offenders and victims from a resourcefulness and resilience perspective.

Module provider

Sociology

Module Leader

MCCARTHY Daniel (Sociology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

n/a

Module content

1. What are surveillance and social control?
2. Histories of surveillance and social control
3. Surveillance and social order
4. The politics of technology
5. Trust and distrust in surveillance and social control
6. Punishment and social control
7. Therapeutic social control
8. Media, surveillance and digital (dis)order
9. Cross national issues in surveillance and social
control
10. The politics of knowledge and possibilities of reform

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

n/a

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate: -

• A systematic understanding of the ways in which different types of surveillance and society control in society can be understood in practice, especially in relation to data. - 
• An advanced ability to make connections and distinctions between surveillance, society and social control. - 

• A critical understanding of the ways theories intersect with the ways in which surveillance, society and social control are assessed. 

   

• In-class test - will test students on key concepts and data trends studied in the first five weeks of the module. This will be based on scenarios and fact-based questions and will include open and closed item questions.  

• Report - will be orientated around summarising and critically engaging with policy making and legal responses to matters of surveillance and social control. A comprehensive breakdown of the assignment brief will be shared with all students undertaking the module. 

   

• Formative Assessment and Feedback: Feedback in class on regular student inputs Written feedback on individual assignment for assessment one will shape the preparation of the second and cohort feedback from the overall findings of the assessment will be offered in class and on SurreyLearn to all to further support preparation for the final assessment. Students will be given opportunities to discuss a brief plan of their assignment with the module convener, which is optional, but encouraged.

Module aims

• Assess the dynamic relationships between crime, security,
  surveillance and social control.
  
• Challenge how the various mechanisms of surveillance
  and social control are conditioned by cultural and political
  factors
• Have an ability to assess technological changes and their
  effects on ideas of justice, fairness, and effectiveness
  

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The sessions will be taught through interactive lectures and discussion groups, sometimes involving verbal and written interaction segments.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: SOCM086

Other information

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2027/8 academic year.