Examples Of Panopticism

In Michel Foucault’s Panopticism, differences between prior and current “political dreams” of order are explored. The first instance of Panopticism that Foucault explores is that of the plague in the seventeenth century. In order to stop the advancement of the plague, the town is placed on a lockdown. No one is allowed to leave or come into the town, people are not allowed to leave their homes, stray animals are killed, and the town is divided into section where syndics monitor the people. These syndics do daily inspections to see who has become ill. Foucault describes these inspections as follows “Everyone locked up in his cage, everyone at his window, answering to his name and showing himself when asked – it is the great review of the living and the dead” (182). In essence, he is describing the inspections that take place daily and the obedience that follows. He compares these acts of obedience to the exclusion of lepers.

The exclusion of the lepers differs greatly front that of those suffering from the plague.

The lepers are separated through “binary division”, they are separated from those who do not suffer from leprosy; those suffering from the plague experienced “multiple separations”, there was a hierarchy system of order and surveillance where each person answered to someone else (183). This also contributed to a differing “political dream” which “first is that of a pure community, the second that of a disciplined society” (183). The first political dream refers to the lepers, they were separated from society in an attempt to cleanse the population and eradicate the features of leprosy. The second political dream refers to that of the plague where the people are segmented and obey the authority to form a disciplined

society.
This idea of segmenting people and demanding that they submit to an authority has proved useful in asylums, penitentiaries, hospitals, and reform schools. They accomplish this feat my instituting the ideal of Panopticism, a central visible symbol of authority, surrounded by those who must obey. In a prison, there is usually a panopticon, a large guard tower, those who are incarcerated cannot see into the tower, and do not know for certain there is actually anyone in there policing them. Surrounding the panopticon would be individual cells; the incarcerated cannot converse with each other or the guards, but they are made visible by the light that shins through their cell. The incarcerated persons will obey, according to Panopticism, because they are both visible and isolated.
While this example applies to a penitentiary setting, the idea of Panopticism is depicted daily. In the classroom an instructor in placed in the center, like the tower, and the students surround them, like the incarcerated. Military barracks, hospitals, factories, and sporting events also utilize this system of organization to their advantage.