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The Surveillance Curriculum: Risk Management and Social Control in the Neoliberal School
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The Surveillance Curriculum: Risk Management
and Social Control in the Neoliberal School
1
Torin Monahan
2
Abstract
This paper examines several high-profile cases of surveillance systems in public
schools and explores their implications. The argument advanced here is that surveillance systems operate as extensions of the neoliberal state, carving out new
markets for high-tech companies and integrating police functions into the social worlds of public education. The mass media further this process by presenting
students as either victims or criminals who can be protected or controlled, respectively, by surveillance systems. As a result, criminalization and victimization
become the primary experiences for students in public education. Keywords biometrics, fear, media, police, public education, social control, surveillance Introduction On the morning of April 20, 1999, two students walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado and opened fire. Armed with shotguns, a rifle, a handgun, and homemade bombs, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, went on a forty-nine minute shooting spree that resulted in the death of fifteen people, including a teacher and the two shooters (who committed suicide), and the injury of twenty-three others (CNN 2000). The activities of Harris and Klebold that day were caught on video surveillance and broadcasted across the major networks, despite protests from students’ parents and school officials (BBC 1999). Ironically, while the school’s surveillance system and an on-site, armed security guard were unable to prevent the killings at Columbine, the terrifying shooting has become one of the key reference points in justifying increased surveillance and security systems in schools throughout the United States.
This paper questions the rise of high-tech surveillance systems in
public schools and argues that debates over student safety, while important, tend to obscure deeper changes in social relations brought about by surveillance and security regimes. After all, schools continue to be some of the absolutely safest places for youth: with a one in two million chance of
1
Draft: Please do not cite or circulate without permission.
2
School of Justice & Social Inquiry, Arizona State University,
email:
torin.## email not listed ##
, web:
www.torinmonahan.com
.
1
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|
The Surveillance Curriculum: Risk Management
and Social Control in the Neoliberal School
1
Torin Monahan
2
Abstract
This paper examines several high-profile cases of surveillance systems in public
schools and explores their implications. The argument advanced here is that
surveillance systems operate as extensions of the neoliberal state, carving out new
markets for high-tech companies and integrating police functions into the social
worlds of public education. The mass media further this process by presenting
students as either victims or criminals who can be protected or controlled,
respectively, by surveillance systems. As a result, criminalization and victimization
become the primary experiences for students in public education.
Keywords
biometrics, fear, media, police, public education, social control, surveillance
Introduction
On the morning of April 20, 1999, two students walked into Columbine High
School in Littleton, Colorado and opened fire. Armed with shotguns, a rifle, a
handgun, and homemade bombs, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17,
went on a forty-nine minute shooting spree that resulted in the death of
fifteen people, including a teacher and the two shooters (who committed
suicide), and the injury of twenty-three others (CNN 2000). The activities of
Harris and Klebold that day were caught on video surveillance and
broadcasted across the major networks, despite protests from students’
parents and school officials (BBC 1999). Ironically, while the school’s
surveillance system and an on-site, armed security guard were unable to
prevent the killings at Columbine, the terrifying shooting has become one of
the key reference points in justifying increased surveillance and security
systems in schools throughout the United States.
This paper questions the rise of high-tech surveillance systems in
public schools and argues that debates over student safety, while important,
tend to obscure deeper changes in social relations brought about by
surveillance and security regimes. After all, schools continue to be some of
the absolutely safest places for youth: with a one in two million chance of
1
Draft: Please do not cite or circulate without permission.
2
School of Justice & Social Inquiry, Arizona State University,
email:
torin.## email not listed ##
, web:
www.torinmonahan.com
.
1
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