Social Consequences Of Surveillance

Surveillance is regarded as a practical accomplishment, implying that the way it is carried out is largely based on various assumptions and many human actions resulting in some consequences. Unlike in the past, surveillance can be justified on the premise that people behave differently today, and therefore they have to be under close watch. Surveillance is, however, linked to social control efforts. Exercising social control is not just limited to the prison system, but takes place throughout one?s entire life. For instance, in schools there are cameras. In departmental stores, hospitals, as well as public places such as casinos, sports stadia, restrooms, and parking lots are under surveillance in order to avoid acts of terrorism

To be noted, however, is that trust and surveillance have an inverse relationship. This implies that if you trust someone, you do not need to spy on them. Surveillance can be used for social monitoring, but should take a systematic, automatic, and methodological approach. In matters health, the way people perceive health and illness has changed as a result of surveillance. For one, being healthy takes a moral position. People are always blamed when they do not take care of their health. Through social control and surveillance, individuals may be reminded of the need to prevent unhealthy behavior such as uncontrolled alcohol consumption, smoking, and healthy eating. This is geared towards protecting the public from unhealthy behavior (Edgley & Brissett,

In line with this, talking to others about the need for surveillance will make the entire process quite sensible. However, people will always try to find a justification for their actions even if they are wrong (Newman, 2000). While these may be seen as social injustice caused by excess surveillance and social control, the use of drugs has worse consequences not only to the individual, but also to others as it may lead to the spread of contagious diseases, deaths, and addictions. However, while surveillance helps in curbing some of these challenges, it cannot be used in isolation. Rather, communicating to the public about the dangers of dealing in drugs may help them change their attitude. The topic of illegal drugs has been used by many politicians as well as the media in order to instill fear throughout the population, thus influencing their perception, values, beliefs, and voting behavior. For instance, the media in particular has given too much attention to issue of illegal drugs, terming it a social problem. Politicians have also taken advantage of this social menace, to make promises geared towards making the public believe that these politicians are committed to ensuring their safety. Since the drug has dominated center stage, some politicians such as Nixon managed to win support of the majority when he made his