The affective atmospheres of surveillance

Abstract

The spaces that surveillance produces can be thought of as ambiguous, entailing elements that are ethereal yet material, geographical yet trans-geographical. Contemporary surveillance systems form numerous connections that involve multiple times, spaces, and bodies. Due to their ubiquity, normalisation, and yet clandestine characteristics, they seem to produce an almost unnoticed aspect of everyday life. The impacts then, of contemporary surveillance systems, appear to be particularly experienced on the margins of consciousness. Thus we find that an empirical analysis of this realm of experience is possible but requires one to look for such things as disruption, disfluency, and hesitation in the text of speech acts rather than clear representation. Through empirical analysis of narratives concerning everyday experiences of living with contemporary surveillance systems, this paper focuses on their possible affective impacts. In turn, we find it more fitting to think about the so called "surveillance society" in terms of producing "atmospheres" rather than "cultures or assemblages," and "affects" rather than "emotions." Keywords Affect, Atmosphere, Assemblage, Emotion, Surveillance Affecting Atmospheres through SurveillanceThere is an overarching perception between academics, politicians, media, and the general public that surveillance systems are now almost ubiquitous in the UK (particularly in the cities). A report by

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Subjects of, or subject to, policy reform? A Foucauldian discourse analysis of regulation and resistance in UK narratives of educational impacts of welfare cuts: The case of the ‘bedroom tax’

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