The Limits of Coercive Surveillance

This article analyzes social and penal control strategies in the GDR with special emphasis on the role of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) in East German society, which by reinforcing party control of state and society through surveillance and political policing was an essential element of the socialist system. Empirical evaluation of the case of the GDR suggests that the carceral society Foucault imagined cannot achieve its aims of creating a self-regulating, obedient citizenry where a disciplinary regime diverges from popular values and aspirations. Such a regime may secure compliance so long as its power seems unassailable, but once its authority is threatened it may suddenly experience a revolt that is a more accurate reflection of popular sentiments. The citizens of the GDR adapted to the panoptic, disciplinary regime enforced by the Stasi by maintaining the outward appearance of conformity and compliance. At the same time, however, the state failed to penetrate the private lives of individuals. Ritualized manifestations of political loyalty hid the private break that increasing numbers of individuals had made with the regime. The withdrawal of psychological investment in public affairs was manifested in the active life of the niche society, a social sphere that eluded government control and remained partially opaque to the techniques of surveillance employed by the Stasi.