Florent Castagnino: Approaches to surveillance. A sociological study of railway safety and security systems in France.

Access controls, commercial profiling, ‘smart’ video surveillance, as well as the monitoring of work activities, sensors for toxic substances, and so on, are all forms of surveillance that are becoming increasingly widespread. They are the subject of fierce criticism, whether to denounce their harmful effects or to call for their expansion. This thesis helps to explain these differing critical responses, which contribute to the evolution of our surveillance and risk societies. It offers an analysis that situates surveillance practices within their organisational, social and practical contexts, based on two systems: accident prevention (known as safety) and the prevention of malicious acts (known as security) within the railway sector in France. The research shows that, despite the apparent distance between the issues under consideration, the professionals responsible for surveillance face similar practical challenges. The thesis substantiates this finding first from a historical perspective, demonstrating that the early 19th-century railway managers addressed both these issues using the same disciplinary framework.

Following an examination of these issues at the beginning of the 20th century, sociological analysis of current practices highlights a convergence between the professional fields of railway security and safety, centred on ‘risk management’. In both cases, one of the main tasks of security and safety professionals is to dispose of certain data collected during their surveillance activities.

Building on these findings, this thesis aims to offer a partial re-examination of the analysis of surveillance practices. The focus of most research on surveillance on data accumulation processes effectively obscures the processes of omission, exclusion or destruction of data. The thesis therefore argues for attention to be paid to both processes—accumulation and separation—in order to better understand and renew the critique of surveillance practices.

Members of the jury

• Mathilde Bourrier, Full Professor, University of Geneva (rapporteur)
• Dominique Cardon, Associate Professor, Sciences Po
• Anne-Cécile Douillet, University Professor, University of Lille 2
• Cédric Moreau de Bellaing, Senior Lecturer, École Normale Supérieure
• Valérie November, CNRS Research Director (LATTS) (PhD supervisor)
• Gwenaële Rot, University Professor, Sciences Po (rapporteur)