Threats of terrorism, natural disaster, identity theft, job loss, illegal immigration, and even biblical apocalypse -- all are perils that trigger alarm in people today. Although there may be a factual basis for many of these fears, they do not simply represent objective conditions. Feelings of insecurity are instilled by politicians and the media, and sustained by urban fortification, technological surveillance, and economic vulnerability.

Surveillance in the Time of Insecurity fuses advanced theoretical accounts of state power and neoliberalism with original research from the social settings in which insecurity dynamics play out in the new century. Torin Monahan explores the counterterrorism-themed show 24, Rapture fiction, traffic control centers, security conferences, public housing, and gated communities, and examines how each manifests complex relationships of inequality, insecurity, and surveillance. Alleviating insecurity requires that we confront its mythic dimensions, the politics inherent in new configurations of security provision, and the structural obstacles to achieving equality in societies.

Schools under Surveillance gathers together some of the very best researchers studying surveillance and discipline in contemporary public schools. Surveillance is not simply about monitoring or tracking individuals and their data--it is about the structuring of power relations through human, technical, or hybrid control mechanisms. Essays cover a broad range of topics including police and military recruiters on campus, testing and accountability regimes such as No Child Left Behind, and efforts by students and teachers to circumvent the most egregious forms of surveillance in public education. Each contributor is committed to the continued critique of the disparity and inequality in the use of surveillance to target and sort students along lines of race, class, and gender.

Contributors include: Michael W. Apple, Nicole Bracy, Ronnie Casella, John Gilliom, Paul Hirschfield, Andrew Hope, Aaron Kupchik, Tyson Lewis, Pauline Lipman, Richard A. Matthew, Torin Monahan, Lizbet Simmons, Valerie Steeves, Rodolfo D. Torres, Tyler Wall, and Jen Weiss.

Monahan, Torin, ed. 2006. Surveillance and Security: Technological Politics and Power in Everyday Life. New York: Routledge.

This book critically investigates the politics of surveillance technologies in everyday life. From biometric technologies at airports and borders, to video surveillance in schools, to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in hospitals, to magnetic-strips on welfare food cards – surveillance technologies integrate into all aspects of modern life, but with varied effects for different populations. By focusing on everyday examples, this collection reveals how power is mobilized and contested through surveillance technologies. The result is a fresh and empirically grounded look at surveillance and security.

Contributors include: Peter Adey, Heather Cameron, Nancy Campbell, Simon Cole, Lane DeNicola, Aaron Doyle, Virginia Eubanks, Jill Fisher, Laura Huey, Institute for Applied Autonomy, Cindi Katz, Andrew Lakoff, David Lyon, Gary Marx, Torin Monahan, Henry Pontell, Irma van der Ploeg, Kevin Walby, and Langdon Winner.r

Monahan, Torin. 2005. Globalization, Technological Change, and Public Education. New York: Routledge.

This book documents "globalization on the ground" in public schools. Drawing upon extensive ethnographic research and interviews in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the book analyzes the everyday practices of individuals navigating technology policies through this recently decentralized school district. It describes the ways that social group conflicts and political values become embedded in decisions, such as the setting of equipment specifications, and then built into durable material forms.

The book concludes that with few exceptions, educational technologies are forcing both students and workers to adapt to global systems that are ever more rigid and controlling. Nonetheless, a key secondary finding is that flexible production models can be enabling and empowering for students, teachers, and other actors in the system, provided that flexibility is achieved in organizational structures, policies, and architectural designs.