panopticism

Panopticism relates to everything. And so, I'd like to share with my readers a short essay that I wrote explaining what it is all about by referring to the essay Panopticism by Foucault (Dane, this is especially for you):

Panopticism begins with a description of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a nineteenth century structural design for a prison. The principle behind the design is explained, the mechanism analyzed, and throughout the chapter Foucault shows how it provided the model in which a self-disciplined modern society has been able to develop. Foucault gradually leads us to the realization that “We are neither in the amphitheater, nor on the stage, but in the Panoptic machine”(Foucault 301).            

          Bentham’s Panopticon is composed of a tower annularly surrounded by cells. The tower has wide windows that open into the inner side of the ring. Each cells extends the whole width of the building and has two parallel windows, the inner one facing the tower’s window, and the other outwards. This parallel setting allows the light to cross the cell from one end to another; hence the supervisor can easily observe the individual in the cell from the tower. With the Panopticon’s structural elements, Bentham creates a scenario where the inmates in the cells cannot see the guardian in the tower, and therefore cannot verify, at any given moment, whether or not they are being observed.  Thus, this is a very efficient mechanism of control over great quantities of people as it exerts a constant sense of surveillance and produces self-imposed discipline. An additional element is that each inmate is isolated as the sidewalls of the cells prevent him from seeing or coming into contact with his peers.  

          By close and constant observation of isolated bodies, each of the imprisoned entities is vulnerable to specific measurement, classification and even experimentation. This gathered information, Foucault argues, is used to increase the efficiency of control, a principle that works similarly in modern times. Patients in hospitals are observed separately, their symptoms documented, and the effects of the medicines they were given monitored. Among schoolchildren, Panopticism makes it possible to asses character and aptitudes. Amongst workers, to compare the time it takes each to complete a task and calculate their wages accordingly, to teach different techniques simultaneously and decide which works best.

          Over the last few centuries, the role of disciplinary institutions has transformed from dealing with “problematic populations” or situations and preventing destruction, to productivity, increasing the possible utility of individuals. For example, Christian elementary schools in the seventeenth century were founded to prevent drunkenness, theft and general disorder. At the beginning of the Revolution their role has transformed into preparing the children for work and strengthening their skills.

          Foucault describes a process in which the disciplinary establishments increase, but at the same time morph from defined, enclosed institutions (such as workshops, armies, schools) into external surveillance spread throughout the modern “disciplinary society.” The police force, along with informers, is an example for a state apparatus that exercises constant unseen surveillance over society, providing a permanent account of citizens' behavior, thus creating a disciplinary network between the defined institutions.

          Foucault sees “discipline” as the form which power takes or in which it is exercised. He also thinks of it as a technique that increases each multiplicity’s usefulness to the power which controls it, while decreasing the cost of regulation per entity.  It is not one place or institution but a set of relations and mechanisms. With the inclusion of the public and non-institutional members in observation, the disciplinary mechanism is decentered, which has the effect of increasing the efficacy of the disciplinary mechanism as there no longer remains the point of having an active agent in order to keep the same power using the threat of violence.

          An important point is that in the modern society discipline works in an unidentified, unconscious mechanism of Panopticism, not replacing other mechanisms but connecting and extending them, exerting control over the smallest details. Thus, Foucault attempts to unveil the Panopticism that penetrates every tiny aspect of modern human life. It is the unspoken laws that govern our lives and subconsciously become part of our nature. Therefore, even though we seem to have the freedom to become the kind of individuals we wish to become, our freedom is constantly compromised by the fact that our personalities come into shape in the shadow of the unspoken social rules of behavior. Foucault insinuates that whether in prisons, schools, or factories, we are all prisoners.

For pictures of the Panopticon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon