Subjunctive deterrence. Power and subjectification effects of video surveillance on demonstrations

Abstract

Public criticism of police video surveillance of demonstrations focuses on possible deterrent effects on participation in demonstrations. Empirical findings of this study, however, suggest outcomes that are more complex. Based on group discussions with left, liberal and right-wing activists as well as football fans conducted in Germany, the paper explores power and subjectification effects of video surveillance on protesters within a grounded theory research design. Video surveillance triggers uncertainty in those affected, leads to reflection and to productive power effects, one of them being the internalization of the police’s threat categories by the protesters themselves. Video surveillance is interpreted as deterrence, repression, protection or normality, depending on the one hand on the interviewees’ images of the state and police and on the other hand on the exposure to such measures. The evaluation of surveillance situations also depends on the protesters’ assessments of them as either peaceful or not. The different ways of dealing with video surveillance are influenced by movement sector-specific security cultures, which aim to establish security of action and thus political agency.