According to David Lyon in his introduction “The search for surveillance theories”, “The panopticon refuses to go away.” (4). The prison architecture invented by Jeremy Bentham became the crucial ‘diagram’ for Foucault. It places an emphasis on self-discipline as the archetypical modern mode, replacing the previous coercive and brutal methods – “it reverses the principle of the dungeon; or rather its three functions – to enclose, to deprive light, and to hide – it preserves only the first and eliminates the other two” (Foucault 200). In 1975, Foucault coined the term ‘panopticism’ in his book Discipline and Punish, which quickly became used to describe Bentham’s utilitarian theory as a whole. However, there has been much debate amongst Bentham scholars as to whether Bentham would have appreciated Foucault’s interpretation of the Panoptic. Philip Schofield writes, “It would have seemed very odd to Bentham, who regarded his Panopticon prison as humane, and an enormous improvement on the practice of the criminal justice system of the time” (qtd. in Ernst-Brunon 2-3). This discrepancy between an increasingly attractive Bentham and a still repulsive Panopticon is largely to be attributed to Foucault. If Foucault’s interpretation of the Pantopticon has made Bentham’s work known to a wider audience, conversely it has also turned Bentham into a forerunner of Big Brother. Bentham scholars have consistently lamented Bentham’s bad name among the general public and Foucault’s hand in the matter.
Within surveillance study (which is a relatively new field of academia) it recognizes Bentham – at least Foucault’s interpretation of Bentham – as one of the major theoricians of this new power of mind over body, and mind over mind. One of the reaso...
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...isms conveys the idea that the panoptic paradigm is no longer a fitting model to interpret present-day surveillance issues, and that society ha moved to a post-panotpical age, which shares some of the features of its panoptical Foucaultian father and panoptic Bentham grandfather, as one inherits traits from a relative” (196). Foucault once wrote, “We live in a society in which panotpicism reigns” (citation needed). While some in surveillance theory circles believe this statement is no longer applicable to their area of study. However, using reinterpretation acknowledges the limits of panopticism, and how reassessing what panopticism a la Foucault is, and what the panoptic paradigm is, can contribute to the surveillance debate. One way scholars have done this is to go back to beginning with Bentham and to distinguish Bentham’s Panopticon from Foucault’s panopticism.
However, there are other critiques that take a different approach on the oppression that exists in the novel. In "Urban Panopticism And Heterotopic Space In Kafka 's Der Process And Orwell 's Nineteen Eighty-Four,” Raj Shah argues that the way in which society in novel is oppressed is not an obvious oppression but one that focuses on constant surveillance. He uses Foucault’s arguments on panopticism to describe this. Shah states, “Foucault neologizes panopticism to describe a form of power relying not on overt repression, but rather upon the continuous surveillance of a population and the consequent strict regulation of the body” (703). He explains it is the constant surveillance that strips individuals of their rights and places them under oppression. He goes on to
Ever feel as though someone is watching you? You know that you are the only one in a room, but for some reason you get an eerie feeling that you are not alone? You might not see anyone, but the eyes of a stranger could be gazing down on you. In Foucault's "Panopticism," a new paradigm of discipline is introduced, surveillance. No one dares to break the law, or do anything erroneous for that matter, in fear that they are being watched. This idea of someone watching your every move compels you to obey. This is why the idea of Panopticism is such an efficient form of discipline. The Panopticon is the ideal example of Panopticism, which is a tool for surveillance that we are introduced to in “Panopticism.” Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron," has taken the idea of surveillance one step further. The government not only observes everyone, but has complete control over society. The citizens of the United States cannot even think for themselves without being interrupted by the government. They are prisoners in their own minds and bodies. The ideals of “Panopticism” have been implemented to the fullest on society in Vonnegut’s "Harrison Bergeron," through physical and mental handicaps.
Perhaps no other event in modern history has left us so perplexed and dumbfounded than the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, an entire population was simply robbed of their existence. In “Our Secret,” Susan Griffin tries to explain what could possibly lead an individual to execute such inhumane acts to a large group of people. She delves into Heinrich Himmler’s life and investigates all the events leading up to him joining the Nazi party. In“Panopticism,” Michel Foucault argues that modern society has been shaped by disciplinary mechanisms deriving from the plague as well as Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a structure with a tower in the middle meant for surveillance. Susan Griffin tries to explain what happened in Germany through Himmler’s childhood while Foucault better explains these events by describing how society as a whole operates.
Foucault once stated, “Our society is one not of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface of images, one invests” (301). By this, he means that our society is full of constant supervision that is not easily seen nor displayed. In his essay, Panopticism, Foucault goes into detail about the different disciplinary societies and how surveillance has become a big part of our lives today. He explains how the disciplinary mechanisms have dramatically changed in comparison to the middle ages. Foucault analyzes in particular the Panopticon, which was a blueprint of a disciplinary institution. The idea of this institution was for inmates to be seen but not to see. As Foucault put it, “he is the object of information, never a subject in communication”(287). The Panopticon became an evolutionary method for enforcing discipline. Today there are different ways of watching people with constant surveillance and complete control without anyone knowing similar to the idea of the Panopticon.
Foucault, Michel, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage, 1977, p 8.
In his 1975 book, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, French philosopher Michel Foucault proposed that the prison system -- along with other social institutions like the hospital, school, and army barracks – acts as a form of social control. Rather than being punished or rehabilitated, inmates are reeducated into an obedient docility, thus maintaining the social hierarchy. Though Foucault’s claims may appear rather reductive and dystopian, he is careful to note that the sole reason the prison (and other social institutions) are able propagate this induced docility is because their true purpose is kept largely clandestine: the prison’s ideal function is to punish and rehabilitate; however, its actual function is the establishment
Prisons act as a total institution where inmates are put on a strict schedule and fall under one of the most gruesome forms of social control. Because of this, many inmates rebel resulting in prisons having to increase security and impose stricter punishments. As a result of this, less effort has been put into helping mentally ill inmates. The term panopticon, coined by Bentham illustrates the concept that the prison design would allow guards to see into cells but not allowing prisoners to see out. Thus, this would allow guards to have omniscient power over the inmates. Fortunately, this never worked as a prison, however prison has created a type of mental health panopticon. This allows for mentally ill parents to feel like they are always being observed; similarly to that of an experiment. Despite prisons best attempt to equally serve all inmates to the best of their ability, prioritizing security and punishment has lead to a mental health panopticon. As a result, prisons environments have exacerbated negative behaviours, created an inhumane environment for prisoners and lack the means to aid in mental health.
As each person feels alone and alienated under big brother’s watchful eye, they have no choice but to build the only relationship and bond they can, with that of their oppressor. The knowledge that the thought police watches the citizen’s every move influences the masses towards a “norm” of a constant state of fear and discipline resulting in utmost loyalty to Big Brother. Also, because people have no idea when they’re being watched, they learn to behave as if always under scrutiny. This transforms people into their own forms of a panoptic gaze, policing their own thoughts and actions from the fear of possible surveillance. Foucault refers to it as “ becoming the bearers of our own oppression”.
The theory of Panopticon by Foucault can be applied in this poem. According to Foucault, there is a cultural shift from the old traditional discipline of inmates to a European disciplinary system (314). In this new disciplinary model, the prisoners always assume that they are under constant watch by the guards and they start policing themselves. Panopticon is the process of inducing inmates to a state of conscious and ...
Michel Foucault may be regarded as the most influential twentieth-century philosopher on the history of systems of thought. His theories focus on the relationship between power and knowledge, and how such may be used as a form of social control through institutions in society. In “Truth and Juridical Forms,” Foucault addresses the development of the nineteenth-century penal regime, which completely transformed the operation of the traditional penal justice system. In doing so, Foucault famously compares contemporary society to a prison- “prison is not so unlike what happens every day.” Ultimately, Foucault attempts to exemplify the way in which disciplinary power has become exercised in everyday institutions according to normalization under the authority network of individuals such that all relationships may be considered power relations. Thus, all aspects of society follow the model of a prison based on domination. While all aspects of society take the shape of prison, most individuals may remainignorant of such- perhaps just as they are supposed to. As a result, members of society unconsciously participate in the disciplinary power that aims to “normalize,” thus contributing to and perpetuating the contemporary form of social control. Accordingly, the modern penal regime may be regarded as the most effective system of societal discipline. [OK – SOLID INTRO]
In Oceana’s society, those who control the power are the one’s who control the past, present, and future. The society of nineteen eighty-four could be seen as an example of our future society once those with power become corrupt. Orwell greatly describes the idea of surveillance and how it affects the lives of the citizens. In the current society around the world, there is already a mass amount of surveillance occurring. Our use of technology plays a great role in our surveillance.
“Two ways of exercising power over men, of controlling their relations, of separating out their dangerous mixtures. The plague stricken town, transversed throughout with hierarchy, surveillance, observation, writing; the town immobilized by the functioning of an extensive power that bears in a distinct way over all individual bodies-this is the utopia of the perfectly governed city” (Foucault, 6) This quote extracted from the Essay Panopticism written by Michel Foucault perfectly describes in detail the controls put on the citizens of Big Brother’s Oceania in George Orwell’s 1984. Through control of relation, surveillance, and separating out their dangerous mixtures Big Brother obtains a government system, which is described by Foucault as a “Utopia.”
Foucault wrote a book called Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison explaining his thoughts on how he discipline should be taught. Discipline and Punish is a book about the emergence of the prison system. The conclusion of the book in relation to this subject matter is that the prison is an institution, the objective purpose of which is to produce criminality and recidivism. The system encompasses the movement that calls for reform of the prisons as an integral and permanent part. Foucault states that The more important general theme of the book is that of “discipline” in the penal sense, a specific historical form of power that was taken up by the state with professional soldiering in the 17th century, and spread widely across society, first via the panoptic prison, then via the division of labor in the factory and universal education. The purpose of discipline is to produce “docile bodies,” the individual movements of which can be controlled, and which in its turn involves the psychological monitoring and control of individuals, indeed which for Foucault produces individuals as
2nd ed. of the book. 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14.4RN, Routledge. Foucault, M. (1995) Discipline and Punishment. The Birth of the Prison [online].
The concept of panopticon in the penal system, which showed immediate success in reform and discipline, eventually leads to it being linked to every component of the modern society. Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon and Foucault concept of Panopticism is seen in many places today in our society. Wherever you look you will certainly find places like, schools, hospital, factories, asylums, and even universities, represent Panopticism because all of this places have some kind of surveillance s...