Open AccessPatterns of Surveillance Legitimization. The German Discourse on the NSA Scandal
Author(s) -
Matthias Schulze
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
surveillance and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.781
H-Index - 46
ISSN - 1477-7487
DOI - 10.24908/ss.v13i2.5296
Subject(s) - legitimacy , denial , german , rhetorical question , political science , government (linguistics) , public administration , law , sociology , public relations , politics , history , psychology , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , psychoanalysis
This paper conceptualizes scandals as a special type of discourse in which the legitimacy of institutions or practices like surveillance is in question. This forces surveillance advocates to engage in legitimacy management (Suchmann 1995). They therefore adopt legitimization strategies that can be observed. This paper presents a framework for the study of surveillance legitimizing strategies in scandal discourses that can be used for future cross-case comparisons. The aim is to analyze how the legitimacy of surveillance practices is maintained or repaired by surveillance advocates when it is contested in times of a scandal. The research questions are, what rhetorical strategies are used to legitimize surveillance and to prevent the scandal from escalating? The case that is studied is the reaction by the German federal Government between June and October 2013. Because of the Federal Election in September that year and the strong notions about privacy and data protection within Germany, this discourse is especially relevant. The surveillance legitimizing practices follow an escalation logic: from denial of knowledge, denial of participation, acknowledging of limited participation to complaining about the monitoring of Angela Merkel’s cellphone.