New releases from Ibex Band, Lucy Dacus, and Various Artists
Latest editorial
On track for dystopia
A new book on profiling reveals just how far down the road to a Big Brother society we've gone, says ANDY HEDGECOCK
PIC CAP Catch them young: an iPhone addict Pic: Andi Graff/Wikicommons
ANDREAS Bernard’s extensive and diligent history of profiling is one of repression, disappointed dreams and a toxic shift in human psychology.
[[{"fid":"13159","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"}}]]Beginning with an exploration of criminal profiling from the 1770s and its attempts to predict behaviour on the basis of facial features, he moves on to efforts by psychoanalysts and criminologists to use a battery of personal characteristics to identify potential arsonists and rapists.
The book concludes by considering the transformation of the utopian ideas of the digital counterculture of 1990s California into a technology of total control.
More from this author
ANDREW HEDGECOCK relishes visual storytelling with no respect for genres, movements or styles
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
Two books and a film that examine cultural excavation and the impact of place on behaviour
ANDY HEDGECOCK invites readers to contribute short fiction to our arts pages, offers some guidance and picks a few favourites