Michel
Foucault's concept of "Panopticism" (Described in his book "Discipline
and Punish: The Birth of the Prison" (1975)) is based on Jeremy Bentham's
idea of the "Panopticon". Bentham, a very utilitarian philosopher, offered
the Panopticon as a highly efficient model for a prison. Bentham's Panopticon
is built with a watch tower at its center and a round system of separated cells
circling the tower. The cells are built so that prisoners cannot communicate with
one another nor can they know if they are being watched. This system, for
Bentham, allows for a highly efficient prison in which only one guard cam
supervise many prisoner, and in fact even no guard since the prisoners act on
their own as if they are being watched.
Foucault took this idea by Bentham as the paradigm for modern system of discipline. For
Foucualt the ideas behind the Panopticon and the way they are manifested are actually
of process Western society went through, becoming a "disciplinary society". For Foucault
Panopticism is a theory of how power works.
In
"Discipline and Punish" Foucault describes how discipline works to
produce individuals who act "on their own" within the interest of
power. The way this is done is elaborate and you can read about it here and get the bigger
picture here. For
the purpose of a simple explanation let's look at an example: In the army
you've got ranks and commands, both of them serve together as a system for
making everything more efficient. This system classifies people in relation to
it and can also judged their performance and worth based on a set criteria. One
soldier is different from another by they are judged on the same scale. Now, Foucault
says that this does not only happen in the army, and that this need for
efficiency has caused all society to function under Panopticism. An example
would be money: we are all separated by how much we have yet we are also united
and equalized by being judged on the same objective numeric scale. Thus
positioned, we are acting according to the interests of money who disciplines
us into being hardworking consumers.
Panopticism / Foucault - Full summary
Part 1:Foucault's notion of discipline
Part 2: discipline and the production of individuals
Part 3: human sciences
Part 4: disciplinary society
More on and by Foucault:
Foucault - "Of Other Spaces" - summary
Foucault's concept of discourse
Foucault on power and knowledge
technology of power
Panopticism / Foucault - Full summary
Part 1:Foucault's notion of discipline
Part 2: discipline and the production of individuals
Part 3: human sciences
Part 4: disciplinary society
More on and by Foucault:
Foucault - "Of Other Spaces" - summary
Foucault's concept of discourse
Foucault on power and knowledge
technology of power