Panopticism: Essay Task

Panopticism is a theory that originates from studying the behavioural activity and effects of confining the criminal and the insane in the 1600’s. The Great Confinement was instigated to create a purer and more productive society, this brought about the birth of the asylum where prisoners were rewarded for good behaviour and punished for bad behaviour. To perfect the efficiency of this method of rehabilitation the Panopticon was built in 1791, unlike previous prisons and dungeons which hide prisoners beneath the surface of society and treat them as a group the Panopticon put a spotlight on the patient and built in them a feeling of being constantly watched and monitored.

It achieved this by containing prisoners in a circular building in which the cells are built around the circumference and facing inwards towards a viewing tower. The guards in the central viewing tower have 360º of vision of all the prisoners whereas the prisoners view of the guards is obscured by blinds. This relationship of watching / being watched produces strong control over the prisoners, as they are constantly on show and being monitored their behaviour improves because misbehaving is counterproductive.

Foucalt calls this Panopticism_, which he writes about in his book Discipline and Punish. He describes the architectural design of the Panopticon as, "They are like so many small cages, so many small theatres, in which each actor is alone, perfectly individualised and constantly visible."

This visibility removes the need of a physical presence in the central tower as this is processed internally by the prisoner, "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."

This one sided gaze relationship is present in a lot of modern day systems, most notably CCTV in shops and supermarkets. Here there is an obvious and constant reminder of being watched without ever seeing any evidence of somebody watching you. This is reinforced by Foucalts idea that:"Power should be visible and unidentifiable", which is exactly the relationship that CCTV has with the customer, this unidentifiable power could range from a fake camera to a security centre that is being monitored by the head of Police.

Foucalt writes about the subject, "He is seen but he does not see; he is the object of information, never a subject in communication."

This conscious feeling of being monitored and watched is so strong within the public that the recent addition of self checkouts in supermarket has become possible. Here the customers are trusted to scan and pay for their own items without supervision, this works by having the machines in an open area with no enclosure, usually in the busiest part of the supermarket where everyone is paying for goods, similar to the layout of the Panopticon, Foucalt explains this change in behaviour because “Visibility is a trap.”.

Overall, Foucalt’s method of referencing the Panopticon to explain social control is saying that power is not a thing that anyone can have or own: “it is a relation between individuals, where there is power, there is resistance."