The Soft Cage
by Christian Parenti · first published 2003
2mentions
1recommended by
2HN commenters
2013–2025first – last mentioned
50% recommend50% neutral
"The Soft Cage explores the hidden history of surveillance - from controlling slaves in the old South to implementing early criminal justice, tracking immigrants, and closely monitoring the poor as part of modern social work. It also explores the role computers play in creating a whole new world of seemingly benign technologies - such as credit cards, website "cookies," electronic toll collection, "data mining," and iris scanners at airports." "With fears of personal and national security at an all-time high, this ever-growing infrastructure of high-tech voyeurism is shifting the balance of p
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
A book to read on the history of surveillance technology, starting with "pass papers" for slaves to finger prints: The Soft Cage - Surveillance in America: From Slavery to the War on Terror, Christian Parenti, 2003 https://archive.org/details/softcagesurveill0000pare
on “ICE and CBP agents are scanning faces on the street to verify citizenship” ↗…into a prevalent and false narrative that persons in poverty are all drug addicts or welfare queens. Christian Parenti really sums it up well when he describes American views on poverty in his book, The Soft Cage: "In a society that denies the true causes of poverty—low wages and structural unemployment—the poor necessarily show up as objects of mystery to be examined, measured, interrogated, and indexed, or…
on “Research Finds Outright Grants of Cash are an Effective Form of Aid to the Poor” ↗