Strengthening the Social Forces: Foucault’s Panopticon Essay

From the concrete walls, the schematics of Architecture and even the way that we are taught, school can remind us of a type of prison. We are taught by repetition and to regurgitate information rather than actually go in depth to understand the topic. We are ready to absorb information and not question said info. We are like fishes swimming in a bowl, unable to comprehend what exists outside of our own sphere of learning. In an essay written by Foucault, he talks about the idea of the Panopticon. When reading his essay, it becomes clear there are striking similarities between the Panopticon and the schooling system. It is my intent to show how both the schooling system and the Panopticon strip Individuality away because of mechanical teaching. This will be conveyed by showing the comparisons of the Panopticon and the schooling system through the topics of how describing the similarity of the two locations and lead into the course of Surveillance on both subjects. I will then lead into the topic of Discipline shaping behavior and will finalize with discussing how the general architecture of schools and the Panopticon are similar.

As the Panopticon is established, a system of normalizing judgements is also at play. With this system, power does not need to actively enslave its people anymore. Instead, social norms are all subjected upon society passively. This is achievable through “micro-penalties” that Panoptic institutions -military, schools, and hospitals- construct (Foucault 178). All of these disciplines affect the “politeness...behavior...and speech” of society (Foucault 178). It is a system of punishment that makes everyone accountable, while rewarding and punishing individuals as a whole. This equality creates a minimum of how people should actively behave. Through the creation of this behavior minimum people become normalized and those who are

The ideas presented in “Panopticism” are evident in many parts of society today. In “Panopticism” three major types of

The Panopticon was a metaphor that allowed Foucault to show the relationship between the people in a disciplinary situation and the systems of social control. From his view, the concept of power/knowledge comes from observing others. Michel Foucault is one of the European philosopher/historian who wrote prodigiously and influentially on the origins or ‘archaeology’ of European social orders since the seventeenth century. For understanding of his work on social control is central to ‘Siberian’ section of Nights at the Circus, especially chapter 3 and 4 show the escape of a group of prisoners. Social order is considered by Foucault through institutional practice or ‘discourse’ that apply punitive and

Panopticism is a social theory named after the “panopticon”, which was originally developed by the French philosopher, Michel Foucault. Panopticon was first mentioned in his book, Discipline and Punish. In his book, he refers "panopticon" to “an experimental laboratory of power in which behaviour could be modified.” Foucault considered panopticon as a symbol of the “disciplinary society of surveillance” (Panopticism). In the two novels, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Frankenstein, panopticism is an element shown greatly. Though these two novels have many differences, this similarity shared between the two is equally important.

In order to access Michel Foucault's claims in Panopticism, I first read through the piece and defined any unfamiliar words. During the defining process words such as the carceral system, discipline, penalty, and power were defined and assigned to definitions that fit more with the descriptions of what Foucault most likely meant by them in his work. I attempted to create connections of Foucault's descriptions to history that I knew prior to my first reading such as the topic of the plague in Europe as well as the current system of incarceration. Upon completing the first read through of the dense material, I reviewed the piece a second time with a "text-to-speech" tool that would provide an auditory

The Capitol uses political technologies or what Foucault calls disciplinary structures, to dominate its citizens. First, the Panopticon a design of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), which is a tower with prison cells that circulate around a guard tower so that prisoners will be watched by the guard. (Parker, P.272). The Panopticon works as a way of individual control, in which it creates labeling and binary division in Panem (Capitol/District). According to Foucault’s description of the Panopticon, districts are being treated as abnormal and the Capitol is labeled as normal, through which the normal is monitoring, supervising and correcting these abnormalities in order to drive them distantly. Panopticonism, forces discipline to be internalized in

While the power/knowledge nexus is observable in formalized institutions such as prisons, Foucault generalizes it, explaining that it describes human power relations in all settings. In order to do so, he draws upon Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon, which he characterizes as a distilled, “ideal” representation of power structures in society (p. 205). The panopticon is, at its core, a ring-shaped tower surrounded by cells that windows on each side (the side of the cell toward the central tower and the side of the cell toward the outside world). “By the effect of backlighting,” the panopticon ensures that inmates cannot see a supervisor or guard in the central tower, but can themselves be watched (p. 200). Because prisoners do not know if they are being watched at any moment, visibility becomes a “trap”; the fear of being observed outweighs the motivation to do wrong (p. 200). In the panopticon, the observation of inmates stimulates the

The repetitive practice and actions of these individuals create order, but as these practices change so social change comes about. Whereas Foucault suggests that we live in a disciplinary society, one where corrective action is used to obtain and enforce obedience and order. (Silva, 2009, p. 322) From this point of view it is social order that shapes and constrains people, human behaviour being regulated by many different organisations. Foucault’s studies put forward three different types of power that are involved in the making of social order. He terms these sovereign power, that of the ruling authorities, who use punishment and laws to maintain social order. The second is surveillance, behaviour is controlled through the keeping of information about people. If people are aware of being watched they tend to regulate their own conduct. Foucault argues that the power of surveillance becomes internalised as individuals seek to make their routines and practices fit with the norm. The third is liberalism, where people are under the illusion that they are individuals with self-direction and personal choice, but have actually internalised social order due to the widespread discourse of individualism. So for Foucault social order is achieved through these different levels of power permeating through society, creating disciplined self-control in the individual, what form this

One ability history has, is providing an understanding of the importance of power with discipline. Bentham’s panoptican allows one to understand this importance. While it focuses on efficiency and utility of power, it injects the fear of punishment into the prisoners. Foucault suggests we use this method of discipline today in many institutions such as school and hospitals to manage others behaviour. As a result we obtain a certain self-awareness. We think about our actions in the fear of someone who is watching. In turn, we discipline ourselves. Foucault uses history to show punishment through physical pain and how power used more humane ways of punishment. Foucault suggests that physical pain is still present. When looking at the death penalty, the state still kills using methods of medication and sedation. The visible torture isn’t shown to the public. However the criminal’s soul is in distress. Trial becomes the public spectacle instead of the punishment. While members of the public participate within the trial to help reach a fair verdict. Foucault suggests that the system uses its power today in order to control its

The theories expounded upon in the discourse highlight a main concern that, since the early 19th century, the organization of power in terms of space has embraced two different concepts of structuring power, which have merged to create a control device comparable to the theoretical Panopticon (Foucault, Panopticism; Foucault, The subject). Foucault also indicates that prisons, schools, and hospitals, are organized along the Panopticon structure, creating a parallel that is extremely useful in constructing the distribution of power in specific landscapes (Foucault,

Panopticism is a social theory named after the Panopticon, according to Foucault, his describes a watch tower in a prison and he thinks Panopticism is how people act different when they’re being watched. Rayner perspective on Panopticism is how we can use social media to our advantage. In this essay, I will analyze both Foucault and Rayner perspective on Panopticism and will determine the rhetorical appeals of both writings.

This means that Panopticon does not serve or help only the prisoners to be formed but also the workers, students, and others. Thus, Panopticon can be used in many ways to achieve different goals. Hence, everyone must be in partitioned so that the application of power may function successfully, to make individual body docile. Thus, one of the advantage of this Panopticon structure is that the power is being exercise at a lesser expense. This statement means that, it only need one person to exercise power but the objects of the exercise of power are many. Thus, everyone is being seen by

Michael Foucault’s chapter Panopticism from his book Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, analyzes how power has advanced through the use of surveillance. The chapter explores how surveillance first evolved when the King was the overall dictator and enforcer. The King held all the power; he decided which rules must be followed and the consequences or punishments that were applicable when these rules were disregarded.

Michel Foucault and his passage “Panopticism” in his work Discipline and Punish expands upon the original ideas of Jeremy Bentham and the Panopticon: a system of surveillance utilized on a group of individuals for which there may be many motives. Foucault relates the Panopticon to other particular systems within the societal wheel and clarifies upon its power to not only individualize a person within pre-meditated constraints, but also to observe, collect, modify, and impose, among a vast amount of other possibilities, in order to yield untampered results (Foucault 200-202). He builds up the solidity of what he refers to as “the mechanism” in the objectified “tower” through which all power of the Panopticon lies; the location where the observer