Social Control
Light
Visibility
Surveillance
Lateral Invisibility
Axial Visibility
Internalisation
Individualised
Automatic
Segregated
Classified
Psychological
Self Control
Power
Self regulation
Discipline > Productive
Physical > Mental
'Panopticism' (Foucault's word)
INSTITUTIONAL POWER
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.
(Foucault 1977) 'Discipline & Punishment'
Who exerts power over us? // INSTITUTIONS...
Government
Schools
Universities
Workplaces
Big Business
Army
Police
Religion
Prisons
Family
Marriage
Each institutions has its own form of knowledge and specialists. producing experts in identifying & outlining appropriate forms of behaviour.
Notes
Power is a relationship
Internalising thought that we will be caught!
Take for example an educational institution, you might not actually care about what your learning but you become a 'docile cog' in the functioning of an institution to please others, {adhering to their power}
When you can't return the 'gaze' a sense of individualisation occurs, the subordinate party (the one being scrutinised) is presented as an object causing them to internalise these ideas and act upon them. Improving themselves and trying to become a better version of themselves.
Task*
Write 400 words, describing one thing in society that regulates Panopticon control, use the provided text and refer to 5 quotes.
Panopticism refers to a social theory based on both philosophy and design, The original concept was conceived in 1791 by Jeremy Bentham who developed the architectural concept that was ultimately designed to retain social order using visibility as a trap. The Panopticon - "Each Individual, in his place, is securely confined to a cell from which he is seen from the front by the supervisor; but the side walls prevent him from coming into contact with his companions. He is seen, but he does not see; he is the object of information, never a subject in communication." The con-structural build makes it possible to see constantly and to recognise immediately, abolishing the danger of violence, theft and coalitions.
Despite the privileges of the Panopticon it has become a 'history of the human mind' and never reached the final stages of con-structural growth and build. Panopticism on the other hand has developed philosophically and theoretically by Michel Foucault, it has become a model of how modern society organises; its knowledge, its power, its surveillance of bodies and its 'training' of bodies.
This system of modern discipline is working everywhere in our society and one of the most evident examples of this can be found in Great Britain itself, the society of surveillance. Boasting the largest amount of closed-circuit television surveillance cameras in the world- an approximate 4.2 million cameras alone in the country- approximately one for every fourteen people (BBC News / Britain is 'Surveillance Society). Despite the obvious benefits of CCTV in deterring crime, the technology is being fundamentally used as a panoptic device adhering to the massive social advances that have occurred in the last few decades. Exerting psychological control and an awareness that has derived from the idea of power being a principle that should be visible but unverifiable. Producing "a society of self-regulating, docile bodies in fear of exposure - of themselves or of their deviant actions. Visibility is a trap".
However the concepts of such panoptic powers aren't based around its functions but its visibility, its apparent "continuos functioning and its automatic mechanisms" producing an awareness and hold on our bodies that make us feel constantly watched, analysed and scrutinised that thus shape our behaviour and make us act in a way that we think is acceptable within our society. Once you understand the ideologies of the Panopticon you can see how other forms of surveillance, including the social media have adhered to these powers, becoming institutes in their own rights. Facebook is a perfect example of this, we watch, analyse and delve into peoples lives without them knowing exactly who's 'stalking' them. The only thing the person does know, is that they are being watched which in turn shapes the way they display themselves, fabricating their lives in order to feel wanted in social society.
The paranoia in our minds acts as a regulator satisfying those who exert this psychological power because its possible for them to "intervene at any moment and because the constant pressure acts even before the offences".
Bibliography
Discipline & Punish (London Penguin, 1977) Michel Foucault
BBC News / Britain is 'Surveillance Society'. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6108496.stm
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