While Foucault asserted that the sovereign style of rule had disappeared, instead replaced by a disciplinary society, years later, Deleuze recounted how this social structure had again changed. Within this new system, which Deleuze labelled the society of control, social networks have become so densely intertwined that it no longer matters whether or not someone is disciplined in accordance with social rules because now they are entrapped within a web that would more often than not ensure that socially appropriate trajectories are maintained. Using Deleuze’s framework about the society of control, an exploration will occur about the current public health STI/HIV surveillance system. The outcome of this exploration is the suggestion that the system is an example of a densely intertwined (rhizomatic) control society.
The Surveillance Studies Centre
c/o David Murakami Wood
Department of Criminology
University of Ottawa
Canada