Theories of the Information Society, Third Edition - Cryptome

INFORMATION, REFLEXIVITY AND SURVEILLANCE
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impositions on women of multiple pregnancies, direct oppression from rulers and
the compulsion of everyday existence placed limitations on people besides which
most modern constraints can seem scarcely significant. So to stress the organisational
features of modern life is not to conjure some Rousseauesque ‘world
before chains’.
The premise that life today is more routinely and systematically managed
does not mean that nowadays we inhabit some sort of prison. Indeed, as will
become clear, our increased liberties are often correlated with greater organisation
– though, of course, this does not have to be the case. But to repeat: the
starting point here is that life now is much more methodically arranged than
before. This has come about not least because of modern capacities to limit the
constrictions of nature. As we have become able, for example, to dispose hygienically
of human waste and to create plentiful supplies of food, so has life moved
from governance by nature to organisation by elaborate social institutions. And
here are instances whereby increased options for people (reliable sanitation
and sufficient food) have accompanied, and indeed been premised upon, the
development of organisational structures.
A moment’s thought brings home the enormity of modern-day organisation.
For instance, consider the school system, an astonishing organisational accomplishment
which brings together thousands upon thousands of teachers, ancillary
staff and pupils at pre-ordained times, to undertake pre-established activities
which, if locally variable, have a great deal in common across the nation, and all
of which is arranged to ensure continuity over the years. Again, consider the
astonishing organisational arrangements that lie behind an activity essential to
all of us – shopping for food. The daily routine of co-ordinating between suppliers,
producers, manufacturers, transport and customers that is required of today’s
supermarkets (typically stocking several thousand different items, many of which
are perishable, thereby compounding problems for the retailer) is a spectacular
organisational achievement compared to previous ages.
This organisation can be extremely sophisticated. Consider, for instance, the
planning that is a requisite of train and bus schedules, of the electricity supply
industry, of television programming, of credit card systems, or of the production
of clothing for large retail outlets or even something as mundane as the cereals
that many of us eat at the breakfast table. It matters neither that we reflect little
on the ‘abstract’ and ‘expert’ systems (Giddens, 1991) that handle these arrangements
nor that, for the most part, we have ‘trust’ in their reliability. The fact
remains that modern life is unprecedentedly socially organised.
A consequence of this, which is easily overlooked, though it will be a theme
of this chapter, is that to organise life information must be systematically gathered
on people and their activities. We must know about people if we are to arrange
social life: what they buy, and when and where; how much energy they require,
where and at what times; how many people there are in a given area, of what
gender, age and state of health; what tastes, lifestyles and spending capacities
given sectors of the populations enjoy. Bluntly, routine surveillance is a prerequisite
of effective social organisation. Not surprisingly, therefore, it is easy to trace
the expansion of ways of observing people (from the census to checkout tills,
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