1st Edition

The Modern British Data State, 1945-2000

By Kevin Manton Copyright 2023
220 Pages
by Routledge

220 Pages
by Routledge

220 Pages
by Routledge

This political history studies the phenomenal growth of the modern British state’s interest in collecting, collating and deploying population data. It dates this biopolitical data turn in British politics to the arrival of the Labour government in 1964. It analyses government’s increased desire to know the population, the impact this has had on British political culture and the institutions and... Read more

Introduction

Chapter 1: The British Government’s Approach to Population Data c1945-64

Chapter 2: Government 1964-1979 and the Growth of the Modern Data State

Chapter 3: Government Data Systems 1964-1979

Chapter 4: Government 1979-97: Developing and Re-purposing the Data State

Chapter 5: The British People, Government Data and the 1984 Data Protection Act

Chapter 6: Data Systems 1979-1997 (1), The Electoral Register, The Poll Tax Register & Data Linkage

Chapter 7: Data Systems 1979-1997 (2), Driving Licences and ID Cards

Chapter 8: Data Systems 1979-1997 (3), The Government Data Network, the Information Society Initiative &

government.direct

Chapter 9: Government Data Security, the British People and Computers, and the 1998 Data Protection Act

Conclusion

Biography

Kevin Manton teaches History and Politics at SOAS and Birkbeck, London. He researches modern British history and is the author of Population Registers and Privacy in Britain, 1936-1982 (2019).