Sunday, 18 March 2012

Task 1 - Panopticism

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using not less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.



Panoptisism is derived from the design and creation of the Panopticon; a circular building that was designed to be  "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example." This power was obtained by the circular layout where the individual cells could be observed by a central tower, where the inmates would not be able to see or communicate with each other and believed themselves to be under constant surveillance hence making the inmates self monitor and self-correct themselves. The idea of panopticon was the start of the transition from obtaining power by force to obtaining power by mind. 'The power relations have 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

FOCAULT 1975


Panoptisim is a part of our everyday lives in Western society, to create 'docile bodies;' self monitoring, self-correcting, obedient and productive people. The idea that "the useful object will no longer be the body of the guilty man set up against the body of the king...it will be the disciplinary individual" Meaning that instead of a person being physically faced with power, the power is instead obtained though a mental state of fear of constantly being watched, and that the fear of them being caught out will over power them resulting in a person to act in a way that they believe society wants or expects them to act. 

CCTV is a an example of contemporary culture that is Panoptic, the "function is to assure that discipline reigns over society as a whole"where 'visibility is a trap". Its main aim is to reduce crime and increase efficiency and productivity of a person through the fear of being watched. There are now 4.2 million cameras in the UK (1 camera to every 14 people). Thus meaning that much of our every day movement is being watched. The idea that if you can see a camera, you will not act out and instead conform to the way society expects a person to act, inducing self-regulated behaviour (docile bodies);  "To induce the inmate state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power." Furthermore "the prisoner should be constantly observes by inspector...what matters is that he knows himself to be observed". This shows that 'docile bodies' are most effectively obtained if the person knows that they are being constantly being watched; like CCTV. "Our society is one not 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 centralisation of knowledge". The Panoptic idea of CCVT is also used to monitor and examine our behaviours as well as to enforce the power over a society where the "function is to assure that discipline reigns over society as a whole". Foucault also talks about how 'where there is power there is resistance', however with CCVT there is no physical body to resist with (like a boss or teacher), instead the power is harder to defy because it is in some part invisible.


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