Lecture 3: Panopticism (Richard Miles Thurs 25.10.2012)

‘Literature, art and their respective producers do not exist independently of a complex institutional framework which authorises, enables, empowers and legitimises them. This framework must be incorporated into any analysis that pretends to provide a
thorough understanding of cultural goods and practices.’ Randal Johnson in Walker & Chaplin (1999) 

Ultimately we'll be talking about social control and how it holds an interest infinitive with psychoanalysis and the gaze. How the social situation were born into effects our consciousness and how we behave...are they pre-determined?...

Michel Foucault - 1926 - 1984, Two interesting books; Madness & Civilisation, Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison. 

The Great Confinement - ( Late 1600s ) 'Houses of correction' -  ideals = to curb unemployment and idleness.

There was no kind of strict conception of madness during these times, people were almost tolerating & accepting the madness, the victims were looked at quite endearingly 'The happy fool'. BUT then a new sensibility emerged, providing a new attitude to the value of work and the social usefulness of work. Not just to make...but to make things better. Inside these 'houses of correction' they threw a range of characters, who were looked upon as the pitiful of society, making the socially unproductive, productive through moral reform, 'honesty of work'.

In the 18th century these houses of correction were looked upon as a massive mistake, all these deviants would corrupt each other, a huge error which needed to be remedied, the sane would fall victim to the insane. Institutions were put in place....hence the birth of the asylum. More subtle techniques were used,  'patients' were tactically treated as children, behaving appropriately would result in rewards/ celebration whereas behaving badly would mean they'd be chastised.

From Pre-modern -  where they'd control the population through physical violence; 'the stick'. They weren't about reforming or correcting, their aim was to basically be as spectacular and grizzly as possible, ultimately discipline would serve as a very visible reminder of the ultimate power of the state over you as a individual.

To the more modern/ socially acceptable approach of modifying peoples attitudes, altering the way they think and subconsciously making them respond to stimuli...

The emergence of forms of knowledge – biology, psychiatry, medicine, etc., legitimise the practices of hospitals, doctors, psychiatrists. Foucault aims to show how these forms of knowledge and rationalising institutions like the prison, the asylum, the hospital, the school, now affect human beings in such a way that they alter our consciousness and that they internalise our responsibility. 

Guy Fawkes - Exact punishment that was enacted - That you be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution where you shall be hanged by the neck and being alive cut down, your privy members shall be cut off and your bowels taken out and burned before you, your head severed from your body and your body divided into four quarters to be disposed of at the King’s pleasure.

New mode of disciplinarily power that infuses all parts of our modern lives - Ultimately to improve our social capacities making us more useful for our society. (Named after a building - the Panopticon, designed by Jeremy Bentham. Many built in the modern era.

Discipline is a ‘technology’ [aimed at] ‘how to keep someone under surveillance, how to control his conduct, his behaviour, his aptitudes, how to improve his performance, multiply his capacities, how to put him where he is most useful: that is discipline in my sense’ (Foucault,1981 in O’Farrrell 2005:102)

The blueprint above was proposed as a design for a generic institution, a multi-function building, it could be a school, could be a prison, could be an asylum, could be a theatre...however most were either Prisons or Asylums...

What's special about this building is that it applies a mental effect, Bentham proposed this building as the perfect institution, in each cell there's an inmate who's staring constantly at the central building, meaning there's a constant presence of their supervisors without the comfort of visibility between each cells. On the other hand... a dungeon is where you'd lock away or hide away the evil classes, Mass social repressions < related to psychoanalysis. 

Panopticon holds a far different scrutiny, everything is lit and on display, the Panopticon internalises in the individual the conscious state that he is always being watched. If you were to rebel you'd be instantly spotted, your permanently isolated. Internal form of Psychological torture.

‘Hence 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) 

Abilities

Allows scrutiny, Allows supervisor to experiment on subjects, Aims to make them productive, Reforms prisoners, Helps treat patients, Helps instruct schoolchildren, Helps confine, but also study the insane , Helps supervise workers, Helps put beggars and idlers to work. 

Institutional Gaze... Acting & adapting to the way you think the institution would want you to behave, without any force to!

What Foucault is describing is a transformation in Western societies from a form of power imposed by a ‘ruler’ or ‘sovereign’ to........... A NEW MODE OF POWER CALLED “PANOPTICISM”

The ‘panopticon’ is a model of how modern society organises its knowledge, its power, its surveillance of bodies and its ‘training’ of bodies. 

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This system of modern discipline is working everywhere in our society! Look and you'll notice.

The open plan office theory is that it encourages people to share and get along, but in-fact it's just so the boss can oversee his workforce, altering their attitudes through visibility and scrutiny, when you internalise this....you start to act accordingly.

The design of open-plan bars as oppose to Pubs - Everything is visible to the bar-staff and doormen...Your always on display, unconsciously you'll adapt your behaviours and respond in a certain way. Everywhere we go in society were watched through CCTV.... Everything's documented on Google earth.

Right this second, in the Lecture theatre - were expected to conform, there were Registers left...another form of surveillance that we all adhere to. Every-things more productive and we become more useful through this form of mental power that were enacting upon ourselves.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POWER, KNOWLEDGE AND THE BODY.

‘Power relations have an immediate hold upon it [the body]; they invest it, mark it, train it, torture it, force it to carry out tasks, to perform ceremonies, to emit signs’ (Foucault 1975) 

It has a hold on our body and forces us to do tasks in order to train us, psychically become more productive, however this produces what Foucault calls: 'DOCILE BODIES'

• Self monitoring
• Self-correcting
• Obedient bodies.

An unquestioning, obedient workforce... the aim of disciplinary and 'gentle punishment'

“That the techniques of discipline and ‘gentle punishment’ have crossed the threshold from work to play shows how pervasive they have become within modern western societies” 

(Danaher, Schirato & Webb 2000)  

The Gym/ CULT OF HEALTH - Most are open plan and have big windows just for the purpose of showing off your body, conforming to the ways of society.

Whenever we eat or even visually see food, were bombarded with the health implications and what we SHOULD eat. The same principle is applied with images of the human form....were told what our bodies SHOULD look like and what exercise we SHOULD do & the more we see these types of images...the more we become persuaded to act upon them.

Foucault and Power

His definition is not a top-down model as with Marxism. "Power is not a thing or a capacity people have – it is a relation between different individuals and groups, and only exists when it is being exercised. The exercise of power relies on there being the capacity for power to be resisted."

‘Where there is power there is resistance’

An interesting example of this is 'Social Media' websites such as 'Facebook' allow us to post information about ourselves and portray ourselves in a certain light. Aware that everything we put up is observed and monitored, it's as if we want people to see it, so they can have some form of a reaction. This eventually snowballs into a fake identity that we've provided ourselves with, everyone will believe what your putting is from your inhibitions as a human when in-fact you might not believe half the things you write.

Further Research

Bentham’s hope that his idyllic prison structure would become integrated into greater society, consequently permitting the preservation of democracy within a capitalist society, was confirmed by French Philosopher Michel Foucault, who, in the 20^th century, revealed how the panopticon’s methods of discipline had, in fact, been adopted by the general citizenry. In order to grant credence to his assertion, Foucault highlighted numerous aspects of society that echoed the theory of panopticism, in which the creation of passive, self-regulating bodies resulted from an instilled fear of an omniscient entity.

“Prison continues, on those who are entrusted to it, a work begun elsewhere, which the whole of society pursues on each individual through innumerable mechanisms of discipline.” – Michel Foucault

What follows are several features of society that are an integral part of the panoptic machinery:

-Santa Claus: “He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake! “.

This is an ideal example of how Santa Claus, utilising surveillance, forces discipline upon children. The promise of reward motivates the young to behave in hopes of passing judgment on Santa’s famed list of those considered “good” or “bad”.

-Tracking: Be it via mobile phone, On Star, or customer loyalty cards, an individual’s actions are monitored and scrutinized.

-Religion: Considered a societal necessity, religion aids in establishing social cohesion. For the individual within said society, his thoughts, decisions, and acts are manipulated by the constant menace of eternal damnation.

-D.A.R.E.: Drug Abuse Resistance Education encourages children to observe and report any illicit activity, even within their own family unit.

-Peer-to-Peer Networks: Whether through Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or any other of the countless social media sources on the Internet, one’s life is publicized for the world to consider. What one is willing to publish about oneself is -generally- carefully considered in order to avoid negative ramifications, thereby molding our public appearance in a manner that appeases authoritative figures.

Considering the methods of surveillance imposed upon the populace, it becomes far simpler to see what drastic effects these techniques have on the individual and how submissive we as a people have become.

Works Cited

Foucault, Michel Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison
 (NY: Vintage Books 1995) pp. 195-228

FLOBOTS THERE'S A WAR GOING ON FOR YOUR MIND.