Exploring Risks and Surveillance in Late Modernity and Society

This essay delves into the complex relationship between risk and surveillance in contemporary society. It examines how increased surveillance, driven by concerns about crime, terrorism, and financial stability, impacts various aspects of modern life. The essay explores several key areas including risk assessment, legal frameworks, external stability, and the interconnectedness of global systems. It highlights the role of surveillance in addressing anti-social behavior and ensuring financial stability while also acknowledging the potential downsides, such as privacy concerns and the creation of new risks. The analysis considers the impact of media and technology on perceptions of risk, the importance of risk assessment, and the need for well-equipped surveillance systems to address evolving challenges. The essay also touches upon the ethical considerations and societal implications of increased surveillance, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach that considers both the benefits and potential drawbacks of these technologies.

Exploring Risk in Late Modernit

Anti social behaviour
can be defined as the actions
that can harm or damage the
well-being of someone. High
crime can be defined as the
crime which includes bribery,
disobey orders, abuse to the
authority. To stop these crimes
the Surveillance can be done,
which means that to have a
close observation or we can
say that a close look on the
suspected person or criminal
(Aldy, 2014). Due to the
increase in crime and
terrorism, some policy
consultants are proposing the
increase in surveillance, so that
they can have a close
observation on the suspected
aspects and if they found
anything wrong regarding that
person, then they can arrest
him.
In recent year, there are
many initiatives have been
taken to increase in the
surveillance, so that the world
can be more globalized and it
can be more interconnected.
4. Macro financial
surveillance- the financial
services and the fund is
increased so that more and
better quality of surveillance
can be done which will be
either multilateral or bilateral.
This will be helpful in
understanding the proper
financial growth and also it
will contribute to the financial
sector, so that these more
funds and better economy will
help in investing more amount
of money in upgrading the
surveillance which will help in
identifying the culprit or the
criminal very fast. This is
because we can invest in more
resources and proper
investigation can be done to
identify who is responsible for
the crime.
5. External stability- to
assess the external stability can
have major influence on the
surveillance, this will be the
main component as the
external imbalance can affect
the economy globally, and by
The second risk is that,
sometimes it became logical
and better to use this
surveillance to monitor the
people, so that the government
can check that they are not
behaving in the wrong way or
we can say in risky way, and if
they do, they have to face the
consequences of that.
Sometimes too much focus on
surveillance can cause the
insecurities. It can happen that
the more we are trying to focus
on the security, the more we
are losing the control over it.
The main perception is that
risk can come anytime
anywhere, but the more we are
talking about the risks, the
more we are bringing
insecurities and fear into
ourself (Monahan and Skeem,
2016).
Though, we can say that
we are safe now than we were
before, but people and the
government tend to spend
more time and money on
surveillance equipments which

These initiatives will include
the external and internal
positions, various legal
framework for surveillance,
analysis of various risks that
can occur, the assessment of
the team members and to
strengthen the financial
condition for the surveillance,
and to give very quick and fast
response for any query or
anything which is related to
high crime or anti-social
behaviour. Apart from these
steps, there are some more
initiatives have been taken,
which are imposed to further
straighten the implementation
in these areas to reform the
surveillance, and they make
sure that the surveillance is
well-equipped, so that it can
handle the challenges, which
are increasing in crime, and
this can support the sustainable
growth in the inter-connected
world. Further, various factors
by which the surveillance can
be increase so that the world
will remain safe are
1. Interconnections- there
the crime prone country, it will
further result in increase in
crime. Because due to their
external instability, the nearby
countries will also face the
same economic problem, and
those countries will not be able
to invest in the proper
surveillance tools, and
techniques so this will result in
more crime scenes and anti-
social behaviour. Due to the
external instability, the
government will not be able to
control the economy, and this
will result in poverty in that
country and those people will
suffer who are having low
income and they will start
doing crime, and this will not
be good for the well-being of
the citizens, so it is very
important that the external
stability will remain good and
the economic conditions will
be healthy, so that will
decrease the crime rates, as
well as the proper and well-
equipped surveillance will be
provided to reduce the crime
and anti-social behaviour.
will not reduce the risk. It will
remain the same (Crawford
and Evans, 2016). The people
are getting proper
employment, and all the
financial condition in UK are
on stable level, the social net is
very safe, but the risk of our
personal information getting
leaked is always there. Due to
this risk, there was a term
named the “dread factor”
(Peeters, 2015), means people
often think about such type of
risks which are not that much
important or the least
important. But by these type of
risks, people are becoming
more careful about the risks,
and they have now more
knowledge about how to
handle those type of risks.
Generally, it happens
that people more focus on
those risks which are delivered
through media, or sometimes
on the opinion of the experts.
Internet is a great medium by
which we can exchange the
information, but the news on
internet sometime increases

are global crisis which need a
more deep analysis for the
weak surveillance or to
identify the crimes which are
interconnected to the other
countries. The individual as
well as the different country's
surveillance suggest that the
world economy, the financial
stability are more depended on
the inter-connection (Mialon,
Swinburn and Sacks, 2015).
There are various issues on
which some reports have been
made which are regarding to
the terrorism which can affect
the economical condition of
more than one country. There
will be an analysis done on the
international relations which
can help in increasing the
surveillance on the criminal
and this can help in reducing
the crime, and at the same time
this will be helpful in
promoting the surveillance
policies, which will support
the financial stability and
sustainable growth.
2. Risk assessment- the
proper risk assessment should
The policy consultants
who are proposing in
increasing the surveillance is
appropriate because they want
that all the citizen of the
country should remain safe
and sound, and no crime will
take place (Ransley, 2016).
There should not be any anti-
social behaviour and crime
occurs and if it happens than
the culprit should not roam
freely because of lack of
surveillance and lack of
evidence. So it is very
important that the place or the
country should have the
advanced surveillance, so that
they can keep the track and
record of the criminal, and
they can do a checking on
them.
The surveillance
technology is increasing day
by day and it includes various
CCTV cameras, body-worn
videos, drones and the number
plate recognition system. In
UK, “the public was more self-
satisfied about the advanced
surveillance, and argued the
the fear in human being
regarding any type of risk,
because the information can
leak through internet in simple
way. The media can amplify
the risk. Through media, we
tend to focus on those risks
which are more terrifying but
they are the least to happen in
daily day to day life.
New
technology and advancement
is like a double edged sword.
At one time it is reducing the
risk, as well as increasing the
new risks (Trottier, 2014).
Let's take an example of
surveillance, at one time,
surveillance is helping people
to manage the risks, which are
present in their life and at the
same time, it is putting new
risks, like privacy, freedom
etc. New technology, science
and new developments, are
doing a great work in helping
us to solve the most complex
problems which are there, but
simultaneously new and more
dangerous risks are being
created, like the virus in

be done so that it will help in
identifying the problems
related to surveillance and the
best and most appropriate
policies can be developed
which will be more effective
and more efficient and this will
help in decreasing the crime
and will increase the safety of
human being. There are
various newspaper articles
which are totally based on the
focus on jeopardy. The proper
and incorporate risk
assessment should be done so
that we can easily identify the
major external or domestic
risks. By which the policies
can draw a view on the major
risks and they can identify the
perfect surveillance which will
be helpful in removing that
risk. Apart from these, there
are various semi-warning
exercises, which are conducted
to determine and to assess the
low probability and very high
impact of risk on the global
economy. There are various
vulnerable exercises, which
are available, to identify the
public bodies like government
and the police to be more
crystal clear about the
technology, how they are using
smart cameras to monitor
people” said by the
surveillance commissioner of
UK. There is a lack of
awareness in public regarding
the advancement of
surveillance, which is very
problematic. Now people
should accept that this
increased technologies of
surveillance is good for them
only, like if there was a crime
took place, and if the CCTV
cameras are present there, than
it will be very easy to identify
or very easy to find the
criminal (Bowden and
Topping, 2015).
Suppose if someone is
having a surveillance
equipment attached to them
and they are going or roaming
in the city, there should be a
authenticated reason for that,
because that thing can protect
their well-being and at the
same time if any crime scene
computer or change in climate,
these are the major risks in life
(Monahan and Skeem, 2016).
The increase in surveillance is
very essential in life, because
of the increasing risk factors
like terrorism and other major
factors, which are life
threatening to human being.
By the help of surveillance
equipments we can decrease
the risks through these
mediums, but at the same time
new technology is creating
new risks which are also very
risky, so we must make sure
that these new techniques are
helpful but at the same time
these are creating new risks.

emerging risks and the
vulnerability in this highly
rising market and low
economic countries.
3. Legal framework-
Various legal integrated
surveillance decisions have
been adopted in the recent
time, so that we can have a
great accessibility on the legal
laws which are helping in
increasing the surveillance in
this highly unsafe and more
risky world. These decisions
are more organized and
accurate in finding out the root
cause of the crime and by
which the surveillance can be
increased (Lewis, Crawford
and Traynor, 2016). If the
country is having very strict
rules against the crime and
anti-social behaviour, then
they will be having very high
surveillance in order to keep
the things in control, so that if
any suspect or criminal is
doing anything which is
harmful to the citizens, then
that person must be punished
very strictly so that they won't
happens there, than it will be
easy to identify the suspect. It
can change the moral values of
the city and also the society,
because by using such high
technologically equipped
surveillance equipment, it will
reduce the crime and anti-
social behaviour of people, and
will keep the human being
safe.
But if the surveillance
is very well equipped, it can
have some risks also, which
will not liked by some part of
the society. The two major
risks are the main concern
about this increased
surveillance technology. One
risk is that, the data it is
required to do the calculation,
earlier it is required special
privacy norms, and some sort
of scientific researches for that
to access the date and the
personal information, but now
due to the advancement of
technology, it will be very
easy to get the personal
information of anyone in the
country, thus if this

be able to do that same
mistake again and this will
keep the crime in control and
at the same time the citizens
will be safe.
information and data can get
into someone else, than that
person can have the access of
all your personal information
without your permission (Van
Brakel, 2016).

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Behaviour Interventions with Young People in England and Wales. British Journal of
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Monahan, J. and Skeem, J.L., 2016. Risk assessment in criminal sentencing. Annual review of
clinical psychology. 12. pp.489-513.

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