The electronic eye: emerging surveillant practices in social work with children and families

Abstract

Given the rise of a ‘surveillance society’ or ‘surveillance state’, this article examines the evolution of new surveillant practices which are targeted at children in general, but also particular groups of children who are frequently seen as ‘troublesome’, even threats to the social order. In England for example, there has been an emerging preoccupation with ‘identifying’, ‘profiling’, and ‘tracking’ the potentially criminal young. Furthermore, other major changes are likely to be introduced in the area of child welfare and child protection. Important here is the New Labour administration’s plan to introduce ‘information hubs’ which will electronically log details on children and families. It is argued that social work and the social professions, throughout Europe, need to critically analyse developments such as this and have their responses informed by international discourses founded on civil and human rights.

Keywords:

• Surveillance
• Tracking
• Every Child Matters
• Human Rights