Panopticism Essay

Panopticism Essay
In his essay "Panopticism," Michel Foucault introduces the Panopticon structure as proof of modern
society tending toward efficient disciplinary mechanisms. Starting with his example of the strict,
intensely organized measures that are taken in a typical 17th–century plague–stricken town,
Foucault describes how the town employed constant surveillance techniques, centralized a hierarchy
of authorities to survey households, partitioned individual structures to impose certain behavior, and
record current information about each individual.
As society has progressed, Foucault explains, these practices have expanded into other institutions
such as hospitals, schools, prisons and asylums. Bentham's Panopticon embodies such disciplinary
...show more content...
"The Panopticon functions as a kind of laboratory of power," Foucault declares; indeed, much
knowledge can be ascertained by "penetra[ting] into men's behavior" (379).
Foucault introduces the modern police force as an example of Panopticism. He explains that the
development of a more centralized police force in the late eighteenth century stemmed from the
need of sovereigns to maintain a sort of surveillance over all miniature details. With a mobilized,
invisible force stretched from even the most "extreme limits", it becomes possible to extend constant
supervision "to reach the most elementary particle" (Foucault 386). The organization of the police
became the vehicle in which political power could keep a "permanent, exhaustive, omnipresent"
gaze on the entire population; a regular Panopticon for the city. Beyond duties of surveillance, the
police would also pursue and punish criminals, plotters, and opposition movements as a way to
demonstrate the consequences of bad conduct; fear would then keep the population as pure as
possible and "accustomed ... to order and obedience" (Foucault 387).
As Foucault remarked, many disciplinary mechanisms and practices are still kept alive in today's
modern institutions. The Patriot Act is one example; one highly controversial provision of the act
allows the FBI to acquire personal records (such as email, documents, library records) for the
purposes of gathering
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Michele Foucault's Essay 'Panopticism'
In Michele Foucault's essay "Panopticism," the contingent difficulties of the text seem to be this
rhetoric's most evident challenge; lots of languages littered throughout the piece that would not be
primarily seen in typical conversation. When going through the piece, I often found myself needing
to take brief hiatuses while reading when discovering a foreign word and either looking at possible
context clues of these unfamiliar words or occasionally looking up their definitions on the internet to
ensure understanding of the text. The text opens with descriptions of the preventive procedures
carried out in attempts to quarantine people that contracted the seventeenth–century plague
epidemic. Such as, mass confinement of those afflicted...show more content...
For example, modern days schools are often institutions that behave in a nearly identical manner to
panoptic principles previously mentioned, particularly in the grade school level. These schools intact
unwavering rules and mandates for a student to follow to do well academically and behaviorally.
Consequently, as a student gets older, there is a gradual progression of freedom due to the
assumption that an older student will behave and act in a more school appropriate way when
compared to a student that is younger. However, even at the high school level, their is still evident
attempts at controlling in classrooms and administrative levels. Where the teacher can essentially be
the dictator in the classroom with no acceptation to any other way of doing things beyond the way
they teach their students. Likewise, the school administration also executes totalitarian like the rule
on students, other administrators, and teachers. All this rigid structure and rule are for the purpose
of controlling the students and other non–high ranking positions, these groups of people are the
inmates in panoptic prisons. Classrooms are the cells at which a student is bound to for a
predetermined amount of time if they leave early without official reasons for there release negative
repercussions arise. The teacher

Michael Foucault Panopticism
Panopticism is a social theory created by French philosopher Michael Foucault. Foucault starts off by
describing the actions took when the plague broke out in the seventeen century. People had to leave
their homes and belongings because they started a quarantine process. The plague is used as an
example to say where the idea of discipline came from. All new types of techniques and defense
mechanisms were created. Foucault then starts to talk about prisons and the prisoners inside of
them. Foucault pretty much says that each individual can be seen, but can't communicate with
anyone. The panopticon is a prison with a big watch tower in the middle. It was built like this so the
prisoners can be efficiently watched and guarded. The prisoners every move was watched and
monitored. This was another way of punishment because they weren't being punished physically, but
mentally. The prisoner's minds were being controlled, instead of their bodies. Foucault believes that
modern society is the same way as the prison was run, maybe not to the same extreme, though.
Everything is run by the state like for example, schools, hospitals, police stations, jobs, and many
more. Foucault believes we can't escape the social norms. We...show more content...
I don't agree with when he says that we are "prisoners in our own bodies" because I believe we
have so much freedoms in this country. I do understand we our controlled by the state and
government, but it's not like we can't do anything. Also, I agree with the fact that schools,
hospitals, and prisons are alike in ways of not looks, but the way they classify us as an individual.
This idea is very interesting and complex because either side cam have a strong argument on how
either is wrong. I believe he is right because everything may be hard to believe because of how
scary the truth is. Reading this essay starts to get you thinking, "Am I really

Panopticism: Surveillance Or Privacy?
Safety and stability are important concepts in society. However, are they more important than
privacy? Privacy helps individuals preserve their sovereignty. People define themselves by
controlling the information about themselves. People are not forced to answer for the choices they
make about what information is shared and what is not. In the essay, "Panopticism," Michel
Foucault brings to attention some concerns on the use of surveillance. He says, in the past
surveillance has been enacted on individuals, causing their behavior to change. This has led to the
panoptic society of today. One aspect that has greatly been influenced is education. Overall, the
advantages of Panopticism outweigh the disadvantages.
In "Panopticism," Foucault observes...show more content...
Nevertheless, the positive parts of this theory do outweigh the negatives. For example, the security
cameras do prevent incidents from occurring. They allow the school to keep track of students
without having to devote more manpower. This saves them money, which can be used elsewhere.
However, as Pat Amos, Dr. Julia White and Barbara Trader have said in their scholarly article on
whether cameras should be used to monitor disabled students, there are drawbacks to implementing
camera surveillance. For instance, the students will feel that they are losing their rights. Students
will not be able to build trust with the teachers. Also, inappropriate behavior will find ways of
getting past the cameras. Case in point, there will be no surveillance in the bathrooms or the angle
from the cameras might not catch everything in a classroom. Bad behavior will just go underground
(Amos, White, Trader

Examples Of Panopticism
Michel Foucault's "Panopticism" in Discipline and Punish considers the Panopticon a metaphor for
the function of power in modern society. The Panopticon is an architectural concept for a prison that
was published in the late 18th century by an English philosopher named Jeremy Bentham. The
Panopticon consists of hundreds of prison cells in a circle around one central guard tower. This
design allows prison guards to observe every prisoner without the prisoners knowing when they are
being watched. This creates a system of discipline by instilling fear and paranoia, therefore keeping
the prisoners in check. Foucault applied the philosophy of the Panopticon to explain how discipline
and punishment works, thereby affecting the way people behave in modern society. According to
Foucault: "He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for
the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself
the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own
subjection" (202–203). Discipline and Punish gives an example of Panopticon during an outbreak of
plague. It involved disciplinary...show more content...
The Capitol utilizes technology to constantly monitor the districts. The people also live in fear
because each year two children are selected, at random, to fight to the death in the Hunger Games.
The Games is a form of punishment bestowed upon the people for a rebellion that occurred long
ago. All the citizens of Panem are required to watch and the people of the Capitol are even
entertained by it. It is the event of the year for the Capitolites. However, the people in the districts
are angry yet they can't express their feelings due to fear of retaliation. Their fear forces them to
conform and do what they are

Foucault Panopticism
about that person (past and present); things that eventually you can use to control, alter, mould, and
even penalize with. This is what Foucault meant when he stated that "using techniques of subjection
and methods of exploitation, an obscure art of light and the invisible was secretly preparing a new
knowledge of man" (Foucault 1984, 189). Today, Foucault's theory ofsurveillance is still very much
in practice especially with the law enforcement agencies such as the police department, the Federal
Bureau Institution, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Apart from sovereign power as discussed above, Foucault also believed that the educational system
was simply another tool through which humans were monitored, and this was made possible through
In his view, the very architecture of school buildings, hospitals, prisons, and state buildings were
designed to depict power (Foucault 1984, 190). To Foucault, power employed the "mechanism of
panopticism" to observe and control (Foucault 1984, 206). The idea of panopticism here is being
used to denote a system where institutions use open spaces as a means of exercising power. For
example, Foucault saw great similarities in the spatial design of the military camp and high schools,
hospitals, and prisons. In Foucault's words, "this infinitely scrupulous concern with surveillance is
expressed in the architecture by innumerable petty mechanisms" (Foucault 1984, 191). These
'mechanisms' Foucault refers to here include the unending tests, documentation and paper work that
is carried out on students, patients, and military personnel, and it was through this that conclusions
were made on whether a person conformed to societal expectations or not. Furthermore,
conclusions can then be made on a person's mental state, guilt, educational level, military
competence, and so on. This led Foucault to ask if "the disciplines have now become the new law
of modern society"? (Foucault 1984, 196). It is important to mention here that although Foucault
viewed knowledge as controlling and stifling, he also saw it as productive and useful, and thus he
insists that "we must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it
"excludes", it "represses", it "censors", it "abstracts", it "masks", it "conceals". In fact, power
produces reality, domains of objects, and rituals of truth" (Foucault 1984, 204–205). What this means
is that although power can be used as a tool by institutions as discussed above, it can also be used
by individuals to

Panopticism
Focault Panopticism
"Our society is not one of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface of images, one invests
bodies in depth; behind the great abstraction of exchange, there continues the meticulous concrete
training of useful forces; the circuits of communication are the supports of an accumulation and a
centralization of knowledge; the play of signs defines the anchorages of power; it is not that the
beautiful totality of the individual is amputated, repressed, altered by our social order, it is rather
that the individual is carefully fabricated in it, according to a whole technique of forces and bodies.
(pp.333–34)"
In the essay, Panopticism, by Michel Focault, he makes the argument that we live in a society of
That is the most important tool of the panopticon. Foucault makes this assumption about today's
society by saying that we are always being watched whether we know it or not. One always keeps
an eye over their shoulder as a result of the constant fear that someone is watching them. This
consideration forms the basis of power for those who have the control and power – society,
government, and state. The power gives those in charge a safety net, making the individual
conscious of the presence of a hidden onlooker, causing them to think one twice before any move.
An excellent of Focault's theory is how Santa Claus can be used as a form of power to make
children behave. "He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if
you've been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake." Focault's theory shows that this song
about Santa Claus is more than a simple Christmas carol, it is used to plant the constant fear in the
mind of a child that they are being watched even when they can't see who is doing the watching.
The mere threat at Christmas time of this hidden force is enough to keep children well behaved.
This is only one example of many in our society.
Furthermore, verbal communication in the Panopticon was not an option. The prisoners were not
allowed to speak to one another. This limit on communication dehumanizes the inmate –
communication is what makes us people. If we could not talk to each other we

Michel Foucault Panopticism
"Panopticism is a social theory named after the Panopticon, originally developed by French
philosopher Michel Foucault. The "panopticon" refers to an experimental laboratory of power in
which behaviour could be modified, and Foucault viewed the panopticon as a symbol of the
disciplinary society of surveillance." (Foucault pg. 1) Even though panopticism was created in the
1950's, we still use it in modern day society. It has been modernized into using security cameras,
religion, etc.... Most security cameras are just for show and not to actually record you or they are
on and operating, but rarely anyone is watching. With these in place, people will self regulate their
behavior so they will not get caught. Security cameras have been used as a

Panopticon Essay
The author of the essay "Panopticism", Michel Foucault gives his opinion on power and discipline
in Panopticism. He describes Jeremy Bentham's "Panopticon", a tower in the centre of a room
which has vision to every cell, generalized for prisoners. In simple words, it functioned in
maintaining discipline throughout the jail. It's most distinctive feature was that; prisoners could be
seen without ever seeing. Prisoners would never really know when they are watched and when not.
They are always under the impression that someone is keeping an eye on them continuously and if
anything goes wrong, or they make mistake, they would be punished severely. Since, a prisoner
would never know when he/she is watched, they have to be at their best. In a...show more content...
I can relate this to myself. I go to Harbor Point Gym. It is fairly huge with ample of machines and
cardio equipments. There is another room for people who wants to practice yoga and meditate.
While working out at the gym, I am always guarded about myself being watched by other people,
peers passing by the gym, cameras at the gym etc. it's a human tendency and people really do look
and analyze people. There's always a thought running at the back of my mind what if other people
saw me or made fun of me. This thought makes me behave in a right, well–mannered way. Nobody
forced me to behave in a certain way but it was that creepy thought of myself being mocked. I did
not just behaved well but also pushed myself a little extra. Also, there are treadmills kept closer to
one another. This in turn makes one conscious about their selves. This helps me relate to the idea of
Foucault's Panopticon where he describes "Visibility as a trap"(). What he means by this is, being
visible at times is also a trap. You can be caught anytime if you are doing something incorrect. In
my example of a treadmill, another person also using the treadmill watches you. You are constantly
conscious and try to look what the other person is up to and try to compete him/her. This generates
a competitive spirit and thus, people push themselves in order to prove their selves. It not only
enhances your body but also aids in developing self–confidence.

Discipline And Punish: Panopticism
Panopticism is a social theory developed by Michel Foucault; in Discipline and Punish, Foucault
suggests that people self–regulate their behavior because they feel they are constantly being
watched, making direct supervision unnecessary. Institutions in society such as schools, prisons,
factories, and hospitals rely on the ability to observe individuals associated with such places.
Panopticism is widely used to monitor and control people. In "Antlers" by Rick Bass, the characters'
constant awareness of society attitudes influences them to question what they think,say, or do.
People can come see the valley whenever they like, demonstrating how the valley operates as a
panopticon institution: " In fact, any panopticon institution, ... my...show more content...
In "Antlers", hunting is widely practiced; however, the residents are aware of the stigma surrounding
hunting, driving them to justify their actions. The narrator's words in the following quotes
demonstrate this: " She understands everyone hunts here, men and women alike. She knows we love
animals, but for one or two months out of the year, we also love to hunt them" (113, "Antlers").
Although hunting is an important aspect of life for most of the residents in the valley, because it is
frowned upon, the residents experience discomfort concerning their hobby, demonstrating how
although the valley is isolated, they are unable to escape society's surveillance. The residents feel
that hunting is an enjoyable pastime; however, they are aware of society's negative attitude toward
it, feeling guilty for hunting animals, ultimately trying to justify their actions to soothe their

Panopticism, a social theory based on Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon and developed by Michel
Foucault describes a disciplinary mechanism used in various aspects of society. Foucault's Discipline
and Punish discusses the development of discipline in Western society, looks in particularly at
Bentham's Panopticon and how it is a working example of how the theory is employed effectively.
Foucault explains, in Discipline and Punish that 'this book is intended as a correlative history of the
modern soul and of a new power to judge' (Foucault, 1977) and opens with accounts of public
execution and torture revealing how law and order is created because of the shift from these to prison
rules and discipline. Foucault describes the quarantining and...show more content...
In this way, 'the surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action'
(Foucault, 1977, p201) meaning that the individual is internalised with a conscious state that he is
always being watched, and so no guards are needed as self regulation is achieved, this was best
described by Foucault when he defined 'the major effect of the Panopticon; to induce in the inmate a
state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power'
(Foucault, 1975). Supporting one of the key panoptic principles that 'visibility is a trap' (Foucault,
1977, p200). Foucault goes on to explain that 'its strength is that it never intervenes' (Foucault, 1977,
p206), as 'it constitutes a mechanism whose effects follow from one another', (Foucault, 1977,
p206), there is the possibility that one could intervene at any given moment, but this is never
necessary due to internalisation of a state of awareness. The inhabitants of the cells become 'Docile
Bodies' (Foucault, 1977, p135), something which he describes in full; explaining that it is achieved
through mental, rather than physical discipline, the type of discipline which is created within the
Panopticon, but could be seen earlier, as Foucault describes, in the training of soldiers, or monks.
These 'Docile

Panopticism Into Society
The Implementation of Panopticism into Society 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

Foucault's Panopticism
In "Panopticism", Michel Foucault proposes an explanation for how power and discipline are
instilled and function within society. These ideas were created based on the purification and
partitioning systems introduced during the seventeenth century plague. Families were confined to
their households and failure to comply with daily roll calls, limited food rations, and immobility
resulted in death. The Panopticon created by Bentham provides further support for the concept of
constant visibility. This was an architectural arrangement that ensured constant surveillance and
individualization of inmates. The Panopticon was considered a source of automatic power because
possible observation and examination by guards created order among inmates. The...show more
content...
It appears that viewing people without their approval is a form of monarchy, assuring that no one
questions or fights authority. This attempt at securing power can be related to an essay called
Ways of Seeing by John Berger. One passage states that kings and queens only allow certain
historical artwork of the past centuries to be viewed by subjects so that their power is never under
scrutiny. Berger writes, "The art of the past is being mystified because a privileged minority is
striving to invent a history which can retrospectively justify the role of the ruling class". After a
deeper analysis of Foucault's work, however, it becomes apparent that panopticism is not protecting
tyranny– unlike the mystification of art. Foucault emphasizes that, as a whole, we are all a part of
the "panoptic machine". He writes, "Consequently, it does not matter who exercises power. Any
individual, taken almost at random, can operate the machine: in the absence of the director, his
family, his friends, his visitors, even his servants" (187). In other words, there is not a single
designated operator, but rather we are all involved in observing one another. It is a system of
reciprocal power, a system of accountability. In fact, the guard in the Panopticon tower is not
reigning over the inmates. He is simply the designated observer whose reciprocal power will be lost
as another is shifted into his position. In everyday institutions the designated "authority" does not
have infinite power over their students, workers, or government officials. The idea of panopticism is
an effective and simple tactic that holds peers

Michel Foucault's Panopticism Essay
Within his essay titled "Panopticism," Michel Foucault discusses uses of power and discipline
throughout different times in history. During the Plague era, people were forced to follow
cautionary measures created by the government. In the 19th century, prisoners were molded into
model citizens through no human contact and the fear of current observation. Finally, in present day,
the tactics used within prisons can also be seen within schools, hospitals and factories. When these
ideas are connected to the lives of elite Crossfit athletes, they can show that having a sense of
self–discipline is beneficial. Mat Fraser, Katrin Davidsdottir and Annie Thorisdottir are three
Crossfit athletes who show extreme levels of self–discipline and they are...show more content...
"I'm not trying to squat 800 pounds. I'm trying to run a five–minute mile and squat 500 pounds"
(Austin). Having this incredible mindset is not an easy feat, it takes an amount of self–discipline that
many do not have. The time where Mat's extreme self–discipline was most prevalent was when he
was unable to take the title of fittest man on earth in 2015. As many say, "second is the first to
lose," and Mat takes this statement to heart. Between 2015 and 2016 was where Mat worked until
he had no weaknesses. The discipline that he showed is why he earned the title of fittest man on
earth in 2016. This self–discipline was extremely beneficial to Mat and it could have also been
beneficial to the European population during the Plague era. During this time, the government was
forced to surveil people in an attempt to keep the plague concentrated to only a small group of
individuals. "At each of the town gates there will be an observation post; at the end of the street
sentinels" (Foucault 282). These tactics were harsh, but it did save many from an unpleasant death.
However, if the people during this time had had a sense of self–discipline, like Mat, they would have
taken these necessary precautions and the government would not

Panopticism In Modern Society
How Panopticism is used in Society
Panopticism models our system of control and power. Using disciplinary actions, institutions have
gained power more easily and effectively without using physical power. Michel Foucault's theory of
Panopticism is incorporated to many institutions in modern society. Government and institutions
gain control through discipline and people's fear of punishment.
Panopticism uses surveillance to change the behavior of a person mentally rather than physically.
The Panopticon is a prison created by Jeremy Bentham that was designed so that the prisoners
could be seen at all times by the guard but the prisoners were not able to see the guard. Light was
shined at the prisoners through a tower at the center of the prison so the guards could see
everything but the prisoners cannot. The prisoners do not know when the guard is watching them
so they have to assumed that they were always being watched. Since the prisoners do not know
when the guard is monitoring them, they will have to behave properly at all times. This creates
authority over the ones who are controlled. The Panopticon allowed less guards to be in control
and more prisoners to be controlled. That made the observer more powerful over more people. The
Panopticon is similar to modern society. We follow discipline because we are not sure when we are
being monitored. Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish, Panopticism, predicted how our society is
similar to the panopticon. Panoptism is used

Foucault's Panopticism
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...show more content...
Cyberbullying pertains to electronic forms of degrading and hurting a person, and James is able
to utilize this to his advantage in tragically tearing Taylor apart. She went from being an extremely
happy and outgoing girl to a shell moving through the days trying to recover from the incidents
causing her to lose all of her friends but one, and the ruining of her life. The transition the Taylor
undergoes during this time is drastic, but has an interesting finality to it in that once she does
discover who is responsible for causing her all of the pain, she has destroyed the Panopticon. As
soon as the head individual of the project is discerned, the subjected people break free of these
invisible chains that bind them to their constant surveillance (Foucault 200–202). Taylor herself
discovers who this James that is tormenting and abusing her truly is not long after she recovers from
the hospital and both her and her mother begin their search for the culprit. In finding out who is
mal–treating her so badly, she witnesses that not even everything which is seen can be viewed for
what the truth really is: Her closest friend Samantha is the "James" behind the ordeal all along. This
torture method of consistent and constant humiliation among peers is, in essence, associated with
Foucault's analysis of the Panopticon's utilizations for such methods among similar individuals;
however, it also has a way of easily disguising the truth of the situation, which can be, with
Cyberbully at least, even more

Panopticism In The Truman Show
Peter Weir as the director of Truman Shows reveals that with power and knowledge, the film
depicts a casual acceptance of "reality". For example, in the event that a personality is made by the
media then as it is progress, the reality perspective is constrained to the world perspective of those
confined where wealthy people is made to think that people, as well, is ought to have a same
materialistic mind–set (in this way making those in control more wealthier). The observation is a
direct force of power by the television show creators over Truman which is the only inmate in
correlation to the experiment of the Panoptic machine which is a type of prison building designed by
Jeremy Bentham in 1787 as stated by Storey (2016, 132). It is a similar act of practice to serve as an
act of power...show more content...
Additionally, since Truman is the main inmate here who communicates with being included with the
observation procedure, the power relation demonstrates reliant on individuals who practise it
(everybody aside from Truman).
Foucault's "Panopticism" (1979) is a careful piece that talks about how a panoptic framework would
impact culture, society, the political, and individuals. Foucault describes panopticon is to "induce the
inmate a state of conscious and visibility that assures the automatic function of power." Foucault
mentions, surveillance has a lasting effects, regardless of the fact that it is discontinuous in its
activity; that the perfection of power ought to render its real unneeded practice. The Inmates are in a
dominating circumstance that they are them–selves the bearers. Foucault (201, 202–3) also mentions
that "He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and knows it, expect responsibility regardless of the
constrains of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon

Michael Foucaults Panopticism
Society: Comparison to the Panopticon According to Wikepedia, a panopticon is a type of prison
where the observer is able to watch the prisoners without the prisoner knowing when they are being
watched. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (–opticon) all (pan–) prisoners
thereby conveying what one architect has called the "sentiment of an invisible omnisciece. The
panopticon was invented by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1785. Bentham himself
described the Panopticon as "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity
hitherto without example." Michel Foucault, a French philosopher and historian of ideas uses this
term in his book Discipline and Punish the Birth of the Prison as a metaphor...show more content...
When we do something out of the norm, we are then frowned upon at as some type of threat to
society. An example of this given is from the book Tess of the Durbyvilles, the character Tess is
living in a panopticon because her society is based in a time where she is suppose to have a
husband, but her society gossips about her because she has a baby out of wedlock. People looked
at her as abnormal because she did not follow the moral structure they are used to. No one
bothered to ask any questions they only assumed she was different which is something they did
not like. This panopticon serves a good purpose even though it focuses soley on discipline and
power. Although we are being watched everyday, if we did not have discipline then our society
would not function well, and we would be among murders, thieves, and would fear for our lives.
We are among criminals now but because we have institutions to tame them and force them to be
a part of society or if they choose not to be then they are kept away from the perfect society we are
constantly trying to form and improve. Although we are under power of the panopticon, we are
given a sense of protection within our society and therefore we are willing to accept the control we
are

Essay on Foucault Panopticism
Panopticism by Michel Focault
Works Cited Not Included
"Our society is not one of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface of images, one invests
bodies in depth; behind the great abstraction of exchange, there continues the meticulous concrete
training of useful forces; the circuits of communication are the supports of an accumulation and a
centralization of knowledge; the play of signs defines the anchorages of power; it is not that the
beautiful totality of the individual is amputated, repressed, altered by our social order, it is rather
that the individual is carefully fabricated in it, according to a whole technique of forces and bodies.
(pp.333–34)"
In the essay, Panopticism, by Michel Focault, he makes the argument...show more content...
The persons with the plague (lepers were included in this group) were always observed to
account for their presence. These people were supposed to be present at their windows for
attendance. Where they not present at the time, they were marked as dead. Their family would be
removed, the house would be cleaned out, perfumed, and then, a mere four hours later, people
would move back in. Obviously, the fear of not being observed would be strong in this situation, a
direct result of the drastic measures taken once someone's presence could not be observed. Though
this fear has the opposite motivation of the healthy citizens, who, knowing they are being watched,
are afraid to do wrong, it works on the same basic principle. That if one knows they are being
watched, it remains a constant consideration in their mind, regardless of the presence of an
observer, the fear will always be present.
The Panopticon, a prison described by Foucault, "is a machine for dissociating the see/being seen
dyad: in the peripheric ring, one is totally seen, without ever seeing" (321, Foucault). This literally
means that in the formation of the panopticon those who are being seen can not see one another
and the one who sees everything can never be seen. That is the most important tool of the
panopticon. Foucault makes this assumption about today's society by saying that we are always
being watched whether we know it or not. One always keeps an eye over their shoulder as a

Panopticism Analysis
To ensure the orderliness and functioning of a society, there is often a power system or
government structure in place. Now, there are many different systems of power, each based upon a
different ideology or set of values. There can be corrupt governmental power systems that control
almost every aspect of a society, totalitarianism for example, and there can also be purely
democratic societies where the fate of the country rests in the majority of its members, and there can
be anything in between. Michel Foucault, author of "Panopticism," talks about what he calls "power
relations" (187). A power relation is the connection between who or what has the power and how that
power is projected. Foucault analyzed the design of Jeremy Bentham's "panopticon"...show more
content...
When vision is limited to the point where "in the peripheric ring, one is totally seen, without ever
seeing; in the central tower, one sees everything without ever being seen," then the subjects being
observed can be under complete control (Foucault 187). With "axial visibility" and "lateral
invisibility," each subject is isolated and blocked out of communication and contact with others, so
they can all individually be observed without knowing when they actually are being watched
(Foucault 186). After each subject makes the connection that they are being watched, and if they
misbehave, then they will become aware of their observer's presence through punishment or
discipline, they will behave and follow the rules to prevent being punished. This system then creates
a situation where the subjects will be obedient and follow the rules to prevent being punished. If this
works, then theoretically, the subjects will discipline themselves so that the observers do not need to
do anything anymore. "Any individual, taken almost at random, can operate the machine: in the
absence of the director, his family, his friends, his visitors, even his servants (Bentham 45)," meaning
that it, the Panopticon in this case, is such a simple and effective system, anyone can operate it
(Foucault 187). If it doesn't matter who makes a specific panoptic institution function, then power
must lie in the mechanisms or institutions

Panopticism Essay

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Panopticism Essay