Infrastructure as a Camera Obscura for Social Classifications: Urban CCTV Systems in Russian Small Cities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2023.3.2325Keywords:
social classifications, security, safety, infrastructures, surveillance cameras, CCTV, cognitive sociologyAbstract
The study of social classification patterns was actively promoted within the so-called “weak” version of cognitive sociology. The “strong” alternatives have critiqued this endeavour over time for being haphazard and for assuming the supremacy of the social over the individual in every potential interaction. This article seeks to demonstrate the opportunity for productive work in the style of the “weak” project by incorporating the theoretical heritage of Mary Douglas and the concepts of Susan Star and her co-authors regarding the relationship between infrastructures and social categories in it.
The author demonstrates this by examining the fundamental patterns of dangerous/safe space in the thought of collectives consisting of bureaucrats linked to the security services, and analyzing three cases of municipal “Security City” video surveillance systems in one of the Russian regions. The study shows that general principles of camera placement in the cities indicate some patterns of dangerous and uncontrolled spaces and reveals two general types of such patterns. The first one is related to the district-wide organization of the system and the different focus placed on various security spaces. In this sense, CCTV can be positioned centrally or dispersedly. The second one indicates the immediate types of areas that can be potential sources of threats: children's spaces, critical infrastructure and symbolic objects.
Acknowledgements. The author is grateful to Kirill Titaev, Ekaterina Khodzhaeva, and all the researchers from the Institute for the Rule of Law at European University at St. Petersburg, who helped turn a single idea into a full-fledged study. The author is also appreciative to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.
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