Resistance to Surveillance in Everyday Life

This thesis examines resistance to surveillance in everyday life and, in doing so, responds to gaps within the field of surveillance studies through the development of a more rigorous framework for understanding power, surveillance and resistance. This framework reflects the development of more technologically enhanced forms of surveillance and takes into account the cultural and social influences upon notions of privacy and monitoring which hinder opposition to surveillance. As opposed to earlier frameworks for understanding power and surveillance, this framework places resistance as a central focus. This is developed through engagement with the work of Henri Lefebvre and Guy Debord with a focus on their critiques of everyday life, depiction of rhythms for understanding power, the notion of the spectacle for understanding the seductive aspects of surveillance and the use of their practices of resistance as conceptual tools for developing a theoretical framework for understanding practices of resistance to surveillance in everyday life.

This framework is developed through the exploration of these conceptual tools within the context of contemporary forms of surveillance and engagement with contemporary theorists whose ideas resonate with those of Henri Lefebvre and Guy Debord in their depiction of contemporary forms of monitoring, control and resistance. Three sites of surveillance are explored within this thesis through which this framework is explored and deployed. The first examines the difficulties of resistance within the urban environment. The second explores the seductive aspects of surveillance through an exploration of how surveillance is consumed and embraced, these things complicating the development of practices of resistance. The third case explores artistic engagements with surveillance practices and illustrates the framework developed through examples from these artists. These case studies demonstrate the importance of the framework developed here. The thesis as a whole suggests new ways of thinking about surveillance and resistance to surveillance.