Everyday Surveillance, Everyday Resistance: Computer Monitoring in the Lives of the Appalachian Poor

In: Studies in law, politics, and society, Band 16, S. 275-297

Abstract

The lives & coping strategies of the rural poor in Appalachian OH are examined in light of a new condition of high-tech welfare recipients surveillance, drawing on 1994/95 interviews with welfare officials, caseworkers, & 48 recipient mothers. This condition is analyzed as part of a broader societal phenomenon in which the systematic gathering of information on individual behavior is used in law enforcement & social control policies. Results indicate that welfare surveillance is resented & viewed as degrading. Further, there is widespread resistance to & evasion of the surveillance program. 1 Appendix, 41 References. J. Ferrari