Privacy and Surveillance in Public Housing

• In Event: 1451 - Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 13. Policing and Surveillance in Public and Private Spaces

Abstract

This study explores how African American low-income mothers living in subsidized housing navigate the surveillance they face there. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 67 mothers and ethnographic observation in the Sunnyside neighborhood in Houston, Texas, I describe the surveillance system, comprised of intensive rules, monitoring, and punishment in the form of costly fees and ultimately eviction for those found to violate these rules. I show that one of the chief consequences of this ubiquitous surveillance for mothers is the loss of privacy at home—a space where most Americans expect to have privacy. Beyond the loss of privacy, for mothers who end up the subjects of surveillance—who have committed no crimes—this system reinforces racialized stereotypes about black criminality and deservingness, and creates an environment that some liken to living in prison. Further, the strategies mothers use to avoid and to resist surveillance and neighborhood violence can end up not only further limiting their privacy, but also diminishing their opportunities to develop social ties—a key lifeline for the poor. Taken together, I argue that this surveillance system can exacerbate existing poverty, make it harder for poor families to make ends meet, and effectively reproduce inequality.

Author

• Cayce C. Hughes, Rice University