Urban Surveillance in Mexico

Urban Surveillance in Mexico

Nelson Botello (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Mexico)
Copyright: © 2011 |Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-051-8.ch019

Abstract

In this chapter, the symbolic cultural dimension of technology and surveillance technologies in two cities and two commercial centers in central Mexico will be explored, especially the various Closed Circuit Television Systems (CCTV). This will allow the analysis of the way in which these technologies have made viable specific ways of sorting and governance of public and private spaces in the country. This document then examines the relationship established between the symbolic meanings given to these surveillance technologies in said urban spaces. Included is a series of observations and interviews of those in charge of these systems.
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A Perspective Analysis

Technology is inserted in the cultural narratives as an element that guarantees the organization and the rationality of social relations –transforming ordinary language of complex systems into a numeric meaning–, taking for granted that which responds to a certain objective materiality. In this way, concerns such as risk, security, well-being, social classification, as well as its legitimacy or illegitimacy, can be revised from specific cultural structures, who have inserted the use of technologies (Alexander & Smith, 2000), in particular those oriented to surveillance –such as CCTV, although not exclusively.

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