Overseeing organizations: configuring action and its environment

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Despite the widespread deployment of CCTV through most major cities and towns in great Britain, and the importance of surveillance to contemporary debates within the social sciences, there remains relatively little detailed research concerned with the practical use of these technologies in the workplace. In this paper, we examine how personnel in the operation rooms in London Underground use CCTV and related equipment to identify problems and events and to develop a co-ordinated response. In particular, we consider how personnel configure scenes to make sense of and interpret the conduct of the travelling public in organizationally relevant ways, and how they shape the ways in which both passengers and staff see and respond to each others' actions. In addressing how personnel constitute the sense and significance of CCTV images, we reflect on the development of information processing systems which are designed to automatically detect conduct and events.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)181 - 201
Number of pages21
JournalBritish Journal of Sociology
Volume53
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2002

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Overseeing organizations: configuring action and its environment'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this