HIS 284Surveillance Modern History

Catalog

This course examines the political, social, and cultural history of mass surveillance in America, Britain, the USSR, China, and several modern European states, looking at modern cultures of state secrecy and surveillance, the use of informers and secret agents in authoritarian regimes, the efforts of governments across the industrialized world to shape their citizens through mass information-gathering, modern cultures of state secrecy and surveillance, and technology's growing role in the monitoring of everyday citizens by governments and corporations alike. Prerequisite: HIS-100 or second-year standing. COHN