Surveillance is administrative power, mostly indirect via information control

Evidence

Surveillance refers to the supervision of the activities of subject populations in the political sphere—although its importance as a basis of administrative power is by no means confined to that sphere. Supervision may be direct (as in many of the instances discussed by Foucault, such as prisons, schools, or open workplaces), but more characteristically it is indirect and based upon the control of information. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 154

Categorization

• DEFINE: Giddens’s definition of surveillance as information-based administrative power — the institutional dimension Stevens internalises, deferring to ‘expert’ judgements inside Darlington Hall.
• XREF: Directly relevant to Luhmann’s system trust and the ‘faceless commitments’ of the reader’s thesis — surveillance is how institutional systems monitor the individuals who trust them. — connects to: Official statistics constitute state administrative power rather than merely recording it — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 107; Power operates through indirect communication, not direct action — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 604; Information asymmetries result from bureaucratic structures rather than merely legal inadequacies. (+4 more)

Related

• Official statistics constitute state administrative power rather than merely recording it (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Power operates through indirect communication, not direct action #expands (0.75) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 604
• Information asymmetries result from bureaucratic structures rather than merely legal inadequacies. #expands (0.60)