Authors: Gareth Palmer
ISBN-13: 9780719066924, ISBN-10: 0719066921
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Date Published: November 2003
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Gareth Palmer is Senior Lecturer in the School of Media, Music and Performance, University of Salford.
Taking Foucault's notion of Governance--the conduct of conduct--Gareth Palmer applies it to a range of television formats which have loosely been described as "reality TV." Big Brother, Video Diaries, Judge TV, Ricki Lake, and Stupid Behaviour Caught on Tape use a technology of discipline to produce confessions, revelations and transformations which render citizens more transparent than ever and can punish those of who dare to be different. Looking at how various agencies of the state have exhorted us to report crime--such as tax evasion, street crime, even benefit fraud--the author shows how constant surveillance is now integral to the process of citizenship.
Acknowledgements | ||
Introduction: governance and documentary | 1 | |
1 | Reality bites back | 21 |
2 | Tough policing | 44 |
3 | Police and the community | 70 |
4 | Local policing | 92 |
5 | Neighbours From Hell: productive incivilities | 111 |
6 | Judge TV | 128 |
7 | Spectacles of shame | 145 |
8 | Video lives | 163 |
Conclusion: Big Brother - an experiment in governance | 182 | |
Index | 197 |