Prison media work

From manual labor to the work of being tracked

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11267446
AutoresAnne Kaun (0000-0002-5879-2130, Södertörn University, autor de correspondencia), Fredrik Stiernstedt (0000-0002-5247-8212, Södertörn University)
Año2020
Volumen42
Número7-8
Páginas1277-1292
Fecha de publicación2020-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMedia Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0163-4437 • E-ISSN: 1460-3675
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0163443719899809
OpenAlexW3008195096
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas22

Incarcerated individuals have long contributed to crucial societal infrastructures. From being leased work force building the railway in the United States to constructing canal systems in Sweden, prisoners’ labor has been widespread as an important part of value production. Part of the labor conducted by incarcerated people is related to the production, repair, and maintenance of media devices and media infrastructures constituting what we call prison media work. In this article, we trace the changing logics of prison media work historically since the inception of the modern prison at the turn of the 20th century. Based on archival material, interviews, and field observations, we outline a shift from physical manual labor toward the work of being tracked that is constitutive of surveillance capitalism in- and outside of the prison. We argue that prison media work holds an ambiguous position combining elements of exploitation and rehabilitation, but most importantly it is a dystopian magnifying glass of media work under surveillance capitalism

Business · Capitalism · Criminology · Dystopia · Political science · Politics · Position (finance · Prison · Public relations · Sociology · Work (physics · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Engineering · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions