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The Inspection House: An Impertinent Field Guide to Modern Surveillance
In 1787, British philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham conceived of the panopticon, a ring of cells observed by a central watchtower, as a labor-saving device for those in authority. While Bentham’s design was ostensibly for a prison, he believed that any number of places that require supervision � factories, poorhouses, hospitals, and schools � would benefit from such a design. The French philosopher Michel Foucault took Bentham at his word. In his groundbreaking 1975 study, Discipline and Punish, the panopticon became a metaphor to describe the creeping effects of personalized surveillance as a means for ever-finer mechanisms of control.
Forty years later, the available tools of scrutiny, supervision, and discipline are far more capable and insidious than Foucault dreamed, and yet less effective than Bentham hoped. Shopping malls, container ports, terrorist holding cells and social networks all bristle with cameras, sensors, and trackers. But, crucially, they are also rife with resistance. The Inspection House is a tour through several of these sites � from Guantánamo Bay to the Occupy Oakland camp and the authors’ own mobile devices � providing a stark, vivid portrait of our contemporary surveillance state and its opponents.
Forty years later, the available tools of scrutiny, supervision, and discipline are far more capable and insidious than Foucault dreamed, and yet less effective than Bentham hoped. Shopping malls, container ports, terrorist holding cells and social networks all bristle with cameras, sensors, and trackers. But, crucially, they are also rife with resistance. The Inspection House is a tour through several of these sites � from Guantánamo Bay to the Occupy Oakland camp and the authors’ own mobile devices � providing a stark, vivid portrait of our contemporary surveillance state and its opponents.
160 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 13, 2015
It's hard to sell someone on a non-fiction book about the surveillance state. Whatever one imagines, it's probably not a lively, slender tome that starts by talking about a pie-in-the-sky idealist architect from the 18th century--but that's what you'll find if you make the correct decision and pick up a copy of The Inspection House. It's wry, informative, and actually treats the subject matter with some nuance.
The "Field Guide" in the title may be a bit misleading. It's closer to a history of surveillance, tracing its from the Panopticon, an 18th century prison that was never built, to the CCTV networks and always-on location information of the smartphones we all carry around on purpose, for some reason. It makes some interesting stops along the way, and leaves one with a new understanding on surveillance.
(In the interests of full disclosure, Emily Horne, one of the book's co-authors, once laughed at one of my jokes. For this I owe her a debt I can never fully repay.)
The "Field Guide" in the title may be a bit misleading. It's closer to a history of surveillance, tracing its from the Panopticon, an 18th century prison that was never built, to the CCTV networks and always-on location information of the smartphones we all carry around on purpose, for some reason. It makes some interesting stops along the way, and leaves one with a new understanding on surveillance.
(In the interests of full disclosure, Emily Horne, one of the book's co-authors, once laughed at one of my jokes. For this I owe her a debt I can never fully repay.)
August 14, 2017
A breezy extended essay which reads Bentham's plan for the panopticon and Foucault's Discipline and Punish alongside the contemporary landscape of surveillance and control, with a particular focus on global commercial flows. Could be a good introduction to Foucault, although it won't provide much additional insight for those who have read Discipline & Punish. The survey of surveillance spaces is too brief to feel like it's doing more than scratching the surface, although there are some interesting historical details here and there, such as IRA bombing's role as an impetus to redesign central London and create the UK's CCTV system.
July 8, 2025
The first two chapters read like a good podcast: somewhat light and superficial, but breezy and engaging. After that, however, the authors lose their grip on the narrative and begin to drift off course, with both the argument and the prose growing increasingly sloppy.
July 29, 2017
Elegantly laid out for an engaging coverage of panoptic history rather than just mindless paranoid swinging.
June 8, 2018
An interesting look into the notion of the panopticon in our increasingly surveilled society
April 4, 2015
Emily Horne and Tim Maly offer a contemporary tour through the carceral city and disciplinary society. Their "field guide" to the "conceptual terrain" of modern surveillance is a tour through prisons, ports, and financial centers—places where surveillance have encroached on their inhabitants beyond their expectations and certainly beyond the expectations of those whose idea it was to put it in place.
This field guide is mostly a tour through the ideas of the utilitarian Jeremy Bentham and the post-structuralist Michel Foucault. Using Bentham's idea of the panopticon (or "inspection house") prison design, Horne and Maly with the help of Foucault show us how the concept of asymmetrical surveillance has become the standard by which society polices itself.
Most critics point to ubiquitous cameras and the data collection involved with every digital transaction as the full realization of a panoptic society we are resigned to now live in. But this book only briefly talks about CCTV cameras and iPhones. The priority is given to Foucault's concepts of the carceral city and disciplinary society. In the interest of security, we have adopted the design principles of prisons and brought them into every city to control the flow and behavior of people. Furthermore, these rules, norms, and fears have been internalized: we discipline ourselves.
This is not a wholly bad thing. We hope that others feel certain restrictions on their activities that might harm others. It means we are able to produce sophisticated technologies like the iPhone. And Bentham wanted this kind of self-discipline in prisons in order to reduce the need for corporal punishment. However, there might be psychological traumas unforeseen by these efforts. And now that this physical surveillance and carceral structures are less visible—subsumed in gardens that block explosive-laden trucks or passively tracking our moves through the city—what does this mean to our power to resist: how do we understand the power being wielded?
Unfortunately, this short book doesn't let us dive deep on these questions. They are left as questions, sometimes not even fully articulated. Horne and Maly offer us a guide through some key ideas and ways they have become real and pervasive in modern society. But I wish they didn't limit themselves to conceptual terrain. This book would have benefited from photos of the architectures of modern surveillance and a more comprehensive set of activities that walk us through the ideas in order to question and reflect on the society we have created—where we are pleased with it and where we find it lacking or even abhorrent.
Read it for the Bentham and Foucault and for the clever examples. Find a reading group for the rest.
This field guide is mostly a tour through the ideas of the utilitarian Jeremy Bentham and the post-structuralist Michel Foucault. Using Bentham's idea of the panopticon (or "inspection house") prison design, Horne and Maly with the help of Foucault show us how the concept of asymmetrical surveillance has become the standard by which society polices itself.
Most critics point to ubiquitous cameras and the data collection involved with every digital transaction as the full realization of a panoptic society we are resigned to now live in. But this book only briefly talks about CCTV cameras and iPhones. The priority is given to Foucault's concepts of the carceral city and disciplinary society. In the interest of security, we have adopted the design principles of prisons and brought them into every city to control the flow and behavior of people. Furthermore, these rules, norms, and fears have been internalized: we discipline ourselves.
This is not a wholly bad thing. We hope that others feel certain restrictions on their activities that might harm others. It means we are able to produce sophisticated technologies like the iPhone. And Bentham wanted this kind of self-discipline in prisons in order to reduce the need for corporal punishment. However, there might be psychological traumas unforeseen by these efforts. And now that this physical surveillance and carceral structures are less visible—subsumed in gardens that block explosive-laden trucks or passively tracking our moves through the city—what does this mean to our power to resist: how do we understand the power being wielded?
Unfortunately, this short book doesn't let us dive deep on these questions. They are left as questions, sometimes not even fully articulated. Horne and Maly offer us a guide through some key ideas and ways they have become real and pervasive in modern society. But I wish they didn't limit themselves to conceptual terrain. This book would have benefited from photos of the architectures of modern surveillance and a more comprehensive set of activities that walk us through the ideas in order to question and reflect on the society we have created—where we are pleased with it and where we find it lacking or even abhorrent.
Read it for the Bentham and Foucault and for the clever examples. Find a reading group for the rest.
March 27, 2015
Tech Book Club appreciated the book for unpacking what has become a conceptual shorthand for surveillance—The Panopticon—and thinking more about it as a technical design and architectural project. We lamented the constraints of the shorter book format—wanting more details, more depth into Tim and Emily’s take and position on the examples they explored, especially the iPhone. But we also enjoyed the brevity and levity of the essay form, including takes like “Bentham would have loved CCTV” and “Is it possible that the fine line between a brilliant designer and a crank might just be defined by adequate financing?”
Indeed, "Yesterday's ideologies are frozen into today's architectures."
Indeed, "Yesterday's ideologies are frozen into today's architectures."
January 26, 2015
Well, Coach House, you tricked me into reading a book that's full of Foucault references. Well played. This is actually a fun little book about systems of surveillance that runs from Jeremy Bentham's crackpot prison plans to your iPhone. The main interesting point running throughout is how architecture affects not just use of space, but also how users feel about the space. You can fortify an embassy with either huge concrete barriers, or by creative landscaping (with, yes, moats). Either way, you should be aware that Big Brother is always watching, for better or for worse.
October 17, 2015
More of an historical overview of panoptic systems rather than a field guide to modern surveillance. Though, I suppose the historical perspective is necessary to understand the significance of modern systems.
The main theme is incredibly interesting: architecture informs how a space is used so then what types of architecture - both in the classical building sense but also modern computer architecture - are utilized to coax higher security spaces out of people.
The book itself is more academic than I was prepared. A second read in the future might be more illuminating.
The main theme is incredibly interesting: architecture informs how a space is used so then what types of architecture - both in the classical building sense but also modern computer architecture - are utilized to coax higher security spaces out of people.
The book itself is more academic than I was prepared. A second read in the future might be more illuminating.
January 12, 2015
I'm not sure who the intended target audience for this is: it's a fairly basic introduction to Foucault and Bentham, but I can't imagine that many newcomers to the topic would pick up a book like this. The writing style is slightly stilted between the two authors - different chapters having, I imagine, different main authors. We read this as part of the Tech Book Club Berlin and it stimulated a lot of discussion between participants, though!
December 2, 2016
Highly informative and compelling
The book lays out specific details about the ways a personal philosophy, government and corporate interests and material reality can converge to construct the world we live in. The sheer breadth of topics covered, and the subtle interplay exposed between them, makes each passage fresh and fascinating. And the brevity, clarity and informality of the writing keeps even lengthy descriptions of technical minutiae easy to read.
The book lays out specific details about the ways a personal philosophy, government and corporate interests and material reality can converge to construct the world we live in. The sheer breadth of topics covered, and the subtle interplay exposed between them, makes each passage fresh and fascinating. And the brevity, clarity and informality of the writing keeps even lengthy descriptions of technical minutiae easy to read.
November 8, 2014
This is, IMO, the best of Coach House's "Exploded Views" series so far. Horne & Maly start with Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon and trace the ideas around surveillance and media through a collection of fascinating examples, from Gitmo to Occupy Oakland. This was really rich, bringing the theoretical underpinnings of the modern surveillance state to light. Recommended reading.
June 12, 2016
2.5 stars. Informative overview of surveillance, from Bentham to present day London and Oakland. It's heavy on the Foucault and a bit dry, but very loosely adopts a 'field guide' format with spasmodic jocularity, if half-heartedly so, which leaves it a bit betwixt and between in terms of tone and depth. I do think I've come away from it with a keener eye and a helpful framework, however.
December 16, 2014
the writers didn't see fit to write about how black people have been under surveillance for decades. you go to Oakland and choose to only write about Occupy? did they not know/care what happened to the Black Panthers...
also the chapter about the Newark port was basically just about container shipping regulations
also the chapter about the Newark port was basically just about container shipping regulations
February 28, 2015
Struck me as a more-academic version of a book that might appear in the "Object Lessons" series from Bloomsbury. Interesting subject matter, but some of the selected quotes from Foucault made following the writing difficult. While the topical focus is ostensibly on surveillance paradigms, the actual focus often felt more like an academic deconstruction of "Discipline and Punish".
October 6, 2014
A very enjoyable update on the idea of the Panopticon as it's played out in real life. I bought it with no regrets, you should do the same: http://chbooks.com/catalogue/inspecti...
November 22, 2014
A great, approachable, short exploration of the history (and the present) of systems built to surveille, protect, and control. Read it!
November 15, 2014
A quick, but informative read, it accomplishes the impressive task of making the often dense Foucault accessible.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews