scholarly journals Behind the Screens: Examining Constructions of Deviance and Informal Practices among CCTV Control Room Operators in the UK

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (2/3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin J. D. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Control Room ◽  
Human Element ◽  
Ethnographic Observation ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Informal Practices ◽  
Workplace Resistance ◽  
Cctv Surveillance ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Low Pay ◽  
Made In

Hitherto, limited empirical research has focussed on the micro-level dynamics and social interactions forming a typical CCTV control room's everyday operational culture. As such, the 'human element' behind the monitoring of the cameras has been largely ignored in much CCTV analysis to date. Drawing upon ethnographic observation conducted within a privately funded CCTV control room, this paper questions the accuracy of a central assumption made in much of the general literature on CCTV, namely that surveillance cameras are not only controlled and monitored constantly, but also operated effectively and efficiently. A consideration of the types of person monitored, and why certain individuals attracted attention from the operatives, is also given. More specifically, and drawing on knowledge gleaned from studies of workplace culture, the article also identifies subtle forms of workplace resistance occurring in the observed control room's informal organisation. This involved strategies such as time wasting and game playing being adopted by the operators, largely in response to the effects of tiredness, boredom, derision and the difficulty of effectively monitoring up to fifteen television screens simultaneously. Indeed, the findings from the research suggested that the operatives felt alienated from their job, due to the imprisoning confines of the CCTV control room, the long hours worked, the high expectation levels placed upon them and the low pay and lack of acclamation received from their employers. Reflecting on these findings, it is concluded that, taken together, the above factors seriously undermine the effectiveness of CCTV surveillance per se.

scholarly journals Surveillance in Practice: Operators’ Collective Interpretation of CCTV Images

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-327
Author(s):  
Barbara Heebels ◽  
Irina Van Aalst
Keyword(s):  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Control Room ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Bodily Appearance ◽  
The People ◽  
Informal Practices ◽  
Cctv Surveillance ◽  
Social Sorting

CCTV surveillance is a cultural practice and collective effort. CCTV not only involves a technical assemblage that is used to discipline the surveilled, it is also a social assemblage in which the informal practices of operators play a major role in the multiple interpretations of images. This paper provides insights into the daily work practices and discourses of CCTV operators and their supervisors through observations of and interviews in the control room of public CCTV surveillance in Rotterdam. By providing a better understanding of the role of people in socio-technical assemblages, this paper contributes to the discussion on human mediation in computerized networks. The paper contributes to the expanding literature on surveillance as a cultural practice by combining insights on social sorting with insights on collective evaluation of unfolding situations—i.e., how group dynamics within the control room influence how people are “judged.” Building on Goffman’s frame analysis, the paper reveals the crucial role of talk and humor in re-performing what happens on the streets as well as evaluating situations and the people watched. Moreover, it discusses how these collective re-performances of what is being watched both reproduce and reshape “othering” practices within the control room. The paper shows how humorous utterances play an important part in overcoming hierarchy and collectively managing emotions, and explores how this humor influences profiling on the basis of bodily appearance.

scholarly journals Against management: Auto-critique

Organization ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 135050842110209
Author(s):  
Martin Parker
Keyword(s):  
Business School ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
The Uk ◽  
North Western ◽  
Made In ◽  
Highly Cited

In this review I consider the 20 years that have passed since the publication of my book Against Management. I begin by locating it in the context of the expanding business schools of the UK in the 1990s, and the growth of CMS in north western Europe. After positioning the book within its time, and noting that the book is now simultaneously highly cited and irrelevant, I then explore the arguments I made in the final chapter. If the book is of interest for the next two decades, it because it gestures towards the importance of alternative forms of organization, which I continue to maintain are not reducible to ‘management’. Given the intensifying crises of climate, ecology, inequality and democracy, developing alternatives must be understood as the historical task of CMS within the business school and I propose a ten-point manifesto in support of that commitment.

scholarly journals A history of high-power laser research and development in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin N. Danson ◽  
Malcolm White ◽  
John R. M. Barr ◽  
Thomas Bett ◽  
Peter Blyth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
High Power ◽  
Laser Action ◽  
Historical Review ◽  
High Power Laser ◽  
Power Laser ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Made In

Abstract The first demonstration of laser action in ruby was made in 1960 by T. H. Maiman of Hughes Research Laboratories, USA. Many laboratories worldwide began the search for lasers using different materials, operating at different wavelengths. In the UK, academia, industry and the central laboratories took up the challenge from the earliest days to develop these systems for a broad range of applications. This historical review looks at the contribution the UK has made to the advancement of the technology, the development of systems and components and their exploitation over the last 60 years.

scholarly journals In-work Universal Credit: Claimant Experiences of Conditionality Mismatches and Counterproductive Benefit Sanctions

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
SHARON WRIGHT ◽  
PETER DWYER
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Job Search ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Benefit Sanctions ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Universal Credit is the UK’s globally innovative social security reform that replaces six means tested benefits with one monthly payment for working age claimants - combining social security and tax credit systems. Universal Credit expands welfare conditionality via mandatory job search conditions to enhance ‘progression’ amongst working claimants by requiring extra working hours or multiple jobs. This exposes low paid workers to tough benefit sanctions for non-compliance, which could remove essential income indefinitely or for fixed periods of up to three years. Our unique contribution is to establish how this new regime is experienced at micro level by in-work claimants over time. We present findings from Qualitative Longitudinal Research (141 interviews with 58 claimants, 2014-17), to demonstrate how UC impacts on in-work recipients and how conditionality produces a new coerced worker-claimant model of social support. We identify a series of welfare conditionality mismatches and conclude that conditionality for in-work claimants is largely counterproductive. This implies a redesign of the UK system and serves as an international warning to potential policy emulators.

scholarly journals Looking beyond Average Earnings: Why Are Male and Female Part-Time Employees in the UK More Likely to Be Low Paid Than Their Full-Time Counterparts?

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeline Nightingale
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Pay Gap ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Part ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Low Pay

This article uses Labour Force Survey data to examine why male and female part-time employees in the UK are more likely to be low paid than their full-time counterparts. This ‘low pay penalty’ is found to be just as large, if not larger, for men compared to women. For both men and women, differences in worker characteristics account for a relatively small proportion of the part-time low pay gap. Of greater importance is the unequal distribution of part-time jobs across the labour market, in particular the close relationship between part-time employment and social class. Using a selection model to adjust for the individual’s estimated propensity to be in (full-time) employment adds a modest amount of explanatory power. Particularly for men, a large ‘unexplained’ component is identified, indicating that even with a similar human capital and labour market profile part-time workers are more likely than full-time workers to be low paid.

Social initiatives and social solidarity under austerity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Fuhr
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Social Initiatives ◽  
The 2008 Financial Crisis ◽  
The Uk

The 2008 financial crisis resulted in a protracted recession in Europe of a kind not seen since the Great Depression. Austerity policies in both countries have increased the presence of and need for social initiatives such as foodbanks and, with them, civic engagement. Foodbanks are often viewed as social solidarity organisations that usually distribute donated food among people in need. Considering that Germany and the UK have both seen a considerable expansion of foodbanks in recent years, this chapter, using the method of ethnography, examines to what extent and thereby how foodbanks in Germany and the UK can construct social solidarity under austerity. The chapter argues that while foodbanks can create a societal representation of solidarity, they can also reproduce social stratification and segregation on the ground. It shows that foodbanks can generate a public image of solidarity on the macro-level, meaning on the societal level, but may struggle to do so on the micro-level, in other words in the interactions between service providers and recipients.

scholarly journals The Living Wage: An Economic Geography Based Explanation for a Policy for Equality

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo J. Morelli ◽  
Paul T. Seaman
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Living Wage ◽  
Labour Force Survey ◽  
The Public ◽  
Household Inequality ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Wage Demand ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Low Pay

This article examines the theoretical underpinning of living wage campaigns. The article uses evidence, derived from the UK Quarterly Labour Force Survey from 2005 to 2008, to examine the extent to which a living wage will address low pay within the labour force. We highlight the greater incidence of low pay within the private sector and then focus upon the public sector where the living wage demand has had most impact. The article builds upon the results from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey with analysis of the British Household Panel Survey in 2007 in order to examine the impact that the introduction of a living wage, within the public sector, would have in reducing household inequality.

THE LEGAL STATUS OF CENTRAL BANK INVESTMENTS UNDER ENGLISH LAW

1998 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 374-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
WILLIAM BLAIR
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
The Public ◽  
State Immunity ◽  
The Us ◽  
English Law ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Special Provision ◽  
Made In

Central banks have enormous sums of money in various forms of investments. When claims are made either against the banks themselves, or against other governmental bodies, issues arise as to whether these assets can be attached, and made available to satisfy judgments. The article explains how central banks are treated in English law. It explains the special provision made in respect of their assets under the State Immunity Act 1978. There is wide immunity from attachment, though questions can arise as to the ownership of such assets. The UK legislation is, in some respects, wider than its counterpart, the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act 1976. Recent case law is described in which the English courts have recognised that the public responsibilities of central banks have to be taken account of when determining the extent of their liability to attachment.

scholarly journals From Warnock to the Stem Cell Bank—Evaluating the UK's Regulatory Measures for Stem Cell Research

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Twine
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Stem Cell Research ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Cell Bank ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Institutional Learning ◽  
Regulatory Measures ◽  
United Kingdom Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Made In

AbstractThe United Kingdom government regards its regulations for stem cell research as some of the most rigorous in the world. This paper chronologically outlines the important stages in the evolution of these regulatory measures over the past twenty years, including the Warnock Report, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, the subsequent series of reports and consultations, and the establishment of the UK stem cell bank. Attending both to the discursive framing of stem cell research and the ethical issues faced, an assessment is made in terms of the appropriateness, adequacy and effectiveness of the UK's regulatory measures. Although institutional learning is detected in areas such as improving public engagement, the UK regulatory process has been open to the accusation of a scientific community regulating itself. This paper recommends that in order to avoid any possible complacency further improvements in public inclusiveness and interdisciplinary representation on regulatory committees should be sought.

scholarly journals Moving In and Out of In-work Poverty in the UK: An Analysis of Transitions, Trajectories and Trigger Events

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROD HICK ◽  
ALBA LANAU
Keyword(s):  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Working Poor ◽  
Poor Families ◽  
Poverty Transitions ◽  
Working Age ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Low Pay ◽  
Trigger Events

AbstractThere is growing concern about the problem of in-work poverty in the UK. Despite this, the literature on in-work poverty remains small in comparison with that on low pay and, in particular, we know relatively little about how people move in and out of in-work poverty. This paper presents an analysis of in-work poverty transitions in the UK, and extends the literature in this field in a number of identified ways. The paper finds that in-work poverty is more transitory than poverty amongst working-age adults more generally, and that the number of workers in the household is a particularly strong predictor of in-work poverty transitions. For most, in-work poverty is a temporary phenomenon, and most exits are by exiting poverty while remaining in work. However, our study finds that respondents who experience in-work poverty are three times more likely than non-poor workers to become workless, while one-quarter of respondents in workless, poor families who gained work entered in-work poverty. These findings demonstrate the limits to which work provides a route out of poverty, and points to the importance of trying to support positive transitions while minimising negative shocks faced by working poor families.

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