Abstract
This article questions common and present conceptions of pre-modern surveillance. A central observation is that sociological and historical readings of surveillance as a historical phenomenon focus on either continuities or discontinuities between pre-modern and modern states and their implementation of surveillance as governmental strategies. This article wishes to avoid such a discussion by focusing on concrete historical cases of surveillance in pre-modern Denmark. In this respect the article is inspired by the genealogical method of Michel Foucault, though it does not claim to be a fully developed genealogy. The article concludes that notions of pervasiveness and scope have to be viewed in proportion to concrete historical contexts.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Surveillance & Society |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Pages (from-to) | 314-325 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| ISSN | 1477-7487 |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Keywords
- Faculty of Humanities
- Surveillance history
- information history
- Absolutism
- Denmark 1770-1848