Escape!

`Escape!’ shows how individuals can resist the methods of power and control used in advanced Western societies by becoming imperceptible to the political system. The populations of Western countries are highly organised and controlled. Government and society at large categorise people, assigning particular behavioural characteristics to them, which limit their mobility, their labour and their sexuality and reproduction. Both social and legal discipline is used to punish behaviour outside these accepted norms. This book argues that the most effective form of resistance is for individuals to refuse to accept their position in the system (be it worker, parent, law-abiding citizen or criminal), therefore becoming invisible to it. `Escape!’ celebrates the illegal immigrant who evades detection, the creators of value through the informal non-monetary economy and the people who refuse to accept definitive and limited sexual or gender identities. It is through these seemingly insignificant events and moments in everyday life, where people cease to occupy formal categories, that individuals can effect real social change.