The aim of this article is to move towards the comprehension of education policy processes and change in terms of an expanded sociology of education policy that studies policy networks and employs new perspectives on governance. It comments upon a perceptible conceptual convergence between education policy research and more general policy studies.

The number of large research projects in the fields of identity, privacy and related topics has burgeoned in recent years. This is a development of great importance to academic scholarship but also to a wider range of audiences and ‘users’, including policy-makers and regulators, the information and communication technology industries, and the general public. New issues have been spotlighted as we move into what some call ‘surveillance societies’, along with a clearer sense of the problems created, and the advantages afforded, (...) by the ability of governments and businesses to identify people and groups, monitor and track their behaviour ad movements, provide them with services at home, in the workplace, online, and in the streets, and enable them to engage in important transactions involving flows of information as well as money. New ways of mitigating adverse effects and enhancing the benefits have been explored, although we are only near the beginning of thinking through and acting on .. (shrink)