Care of the Self and Discipline in Smart Cities

Sensors in Singapore

Book chapter (2020)

Authors

J. Alleblas External organisation
Steven Dorrestijn Saxion University of Applied Sciences
Affiliation
External organisation
Singapore Foucault Self-care Surveillance theory Sensor society
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Published Date

2020

Language

English

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Affiliation

External organisation

Abstract

What is the meaning of the ‘care of the self’ in Sensor Societies such as Singapore, where discipline and control seem to come first? To assess sensoring and behaviour control in Smart Cities Michel Foucault’s pivotal work on surveillance and power appears is still highly relevant. An up-to-date application of Foucault’s work for surveillance studies needs to also take into consideration his later work on the care of the self, and revisit his work on power. This amounts to a framework of surveillance pulled apart and inside out: from top-down hierarchical surveillance to lateral surveillance among people, and even to self-surveillance. Interwoven with this theoretical development is a reportage about the experience of walking the streets of Singapore with an eye to emerging forms of self-care in this situation of ubiquitous surveillance.