Monitoring, surveillance and empowerment - Environmental Reform in the Information Age - page 120

more power at the consumer side of production-consumption systems
(see Chapter 7 ). Monitoring schemes under conditions of informa-
tional governance might thus very well enhance countersurveillance
and countervailing powers, rather than only colonise the life-world.
We will expand on the idea of monitoring power by citizen-consumers
later in this chapter.

Countersurveillance: citizen-consumer monitoring

Citizen-consumer monitoring includes self-monitoring of citizen-
consumers, as well as monitoring schemes and arrangements in which
citizen-consumers disclose the behaviour of producers/providers and
thus develop countervailing power. Although both types are brought
together as they are performed by citizen-consumers, the objectives are
completely different. Reflexive self-monitoring is solely concerned with
attempts to realise internal and often individual natural resource sav-
ings and waste minimisation, for either environmental or financial rea-
sons. Such monitoring arrangements are not focused on or engaged in
realisation of changes in the 'infrastructures of consumption'. Counter-
surveillance monitoring schemes are directed primarily on influencing
companies, utility providers, production/provision practices or even
state agencies, attempting to realise changes in production processes,
products, infrastructures and other systemic parts. 7
An analysis of the differences between citizen-consumer monitoring
and more conventional monitoring schemes can offer more insight in
the specific characteristics of citizen-consumer monitoring. The (his-
tory of) monitoring of domestic utility-related resource flows func-
tions as a starting point to refine ideas on where characteristics of
citizen-consumer monitoring differ from more conventional monitor-
ing (cf. Marvin, Chappells and Guy, 1999 ; Shove, 1997 ; van Vliet,
2000 ).

7

In an interesting analysis, van den Burg ( 2006 ) distinguished along similar lines
horizontal and vertical empowerment of consumers with respect to monitoring.
Horizontal empowerment refers then to monitoring arrangements that provide
consumers further information and control over their own practices. Vertical
empowerment refers to monitoring of the production-consumption chain,
providing citizen-consumers with information, influence and control over
providers and producers. This latter form of empowerment is closely linked to
ideas of chain-inversion.