A Discussion Of Power & Discipline In Michel Foucault’s “Panopticism”

Michel Foucault in his essay Panopticism examines power, discipline, their manipulation, and the effect they have on society. He also talks about Jeremy Benthams Panopticon. Panopticism has left everyone baffled.

A seventeenth-century town’s response to the plague is an exceptional discipline model. The town is divided into four quarters and closed off. Each street is supervised by a syndic. When the quarantine starts, this syndic locks all the doors of his street and gives his key to the intendant. One intendant is assigned to each quarter. For the supply of supplies, wooden canals have been set up in the streets between houses and to allow residents to get their rations without having to communicate with suppliers or other residents. Only intendants, guards, and syndics are permitted to be outside the houses. Anyone else who leaves his home is guilty of a capital crime. Every individual has a fixed place. He moves at his peril. (315)

The second is a constant inspection. A large force of militia, commanded and led by men of quality, protects the town’s gates. (315). This is done to ensure that the citizens obey the magistrates and to maintain absolute power. The syndic visits the street every day, calling the residents to the window to take attendance. When someone doesn’t appear at the window, it is assumed that they are either dead or sick.

This constant monitoring is based a system of permanent recording and reports that go from syndics to intendants to magistrates. Each person’s name and age are recorded before the quarantine. The documents contain all the observations made, such as death, illness, complaints, and irregularities. The town’s medical treatment is completely under the control of the magistrates. They choose one doctor to whom they can trust. A written note is required for anyone else to be allowed to visit someone who is ill. This prevents the person from being hidden and treated without the knowledge of magistrates. The registration process is centralized, as the information about each person and his relationship to illness and death are passed along the same hierarchy.

Purifying begins a few weeks after the quarantine. This process is carried out one house at the time.

The entire house is sealed while the perfume burns. Then the house is sealed while the fragrance is consumed. Four hours later the residents can re-enter. (316)

This enclosed space with its segments is a discipline mechanism. The area is constantly under surveillance. The entire area is under strict surveillance. A hierarchical structure is used to exercise power, with each person constantly being located and examined. (316)

Foucault also presented Benthams Panopticon as a major discipline model. The Panopticon is an architectural figure that is large and circular. The Panopticon is an annular structure with a tall central tower. The tower’s wide windows match the windows of the building on the inside. The ring consists of cells that cover the entire radius. Each cell is equipped with a large outside window. This window matches the inside window so that light can always pass through. A supervisor can then see the entire room from the tower using backlighting. (318)

In the cells, you could put a madman in, or even a prisoner, or an employee, or even a student. This man would have to live in constant fear and surveillance in his prison cell. He wouldn’t know when he is being watched. He feels vulnerable whenever he sees someone. It’s as if he knows that everyone is watching him. Visibility can be a trap. The man is visible, but not aware; he only receives information. He never communicates. (319) He knows that someone is always watching him from the tower. As he cannot see the person who is watching him in the building, he must assume that they are always looking at him. (319)

Invisibility of the observers is a guarantee for order and authority. Power should be visible but unreliable. It should be so visible that an inmate can always see that a tower is in the middle with an observer. The tower must be visible to the inmate from his cell. If the tower is visible, then he will always be visible. The power should be untraceable so that the inmate does not know if they are being watched, but is always aware of the possibility. Inmates never know whether they are being watched when the observer has disappeared from view. This setup is a great way to keep track of your inmate.

In the face of a power relation where he plays both roles, he takes on the role of the subject. (323)

In this situation, the prisoner will be disciplined to follow the rules that are set for him.

Panopticon acts as a disindividualizing and automatizing power. (321) It’s an easy-to-use machine. It is easy to operate. Inmates just need to know that someone may be watching from the tower. The Panopticon could be operated by any random person, and if he went on vacation someone else could take over. Irrelevant is the reason for having such a powerful machine. Panopticon, whether used to teach children, cure sick people, conduct experiments on men, watch people or simply for fun, is an easy-to-use device.

The Panopticon could be used to experiment with power rather than a place of certainty. The Panopticon can be used as a laboratory of power instead of a house of certainty. Foucault discusses different ways to bring up children. Some children might be taught that 2 + 2 is not 4. One group of kids would be taught the moon looked like a huge piece of cheddar. Once these adults reach the age of 25, they should be encouraged to have a discussion about such topics. That would prove more beneficial than any preaching or lecture. Panopticon is a perfect architectural tool for testing men without them knowing. (324)

Panoptic Institutions were initially rare, as was the plague-town. These institutions did not exist in reality, but were a contingency plan for the event that a plague was to strike a town. Benthams’ Panopticon, however, took panoptic schemes to an entirely new level. The plague town plan was to save a society in immediate danger. It was a situation that required desperate measures. The Panopticon uses the panoptic system to increase social and economic forces. The Panopticon was created by taking the panoptic plan to extremes. (326-27)

Discipline comes in two different forms. One extreme being discipline-blockade and the other extreme, along with panopticism, is discipline-mechanism. The discipline-blockade institution is a closed, isolated institution that exists on the fringes of the society. Its purpose is to stop evil, disrupt communications and slow down time. However on the other extreme, discipline-mechanism, where panopticism is, we have a functional mechanism that must improve the exercise of power by making it lighter, more rapid, more effective, a design of subtle coercion for a society to come. How can something like panopticism go from one extreme into the other? This is done through a series of steps that include the formation of an organized society with a set of rules, the gradual extension of these rules to the entire social structure, a generalization in terms of discipline and a spread of disciplinary organizations. Three steps are involved in the process. First, the functional inversion. Second, the swarming disciplinary mechanisms. Third, the state control of discipline mechanisms. (328-330)

First, it is important to determine when discipline should be used. It can be to eliminate dangers, fix unproductive and disordered populations, or to prevent the inconveniences that come with large assemblies. The next step is to improve the usefulness of each individual. The military’s discipline, for instance, is no more used in preventing theft or war but instead is applied in the workplace to enforce rules as well as prevent theft. (328-329)

This transition to the other extreme was made possible by the proliferation of disciplinary institutions. The number of institutions that enforce discipline increased and this deinstitutionalized the mechanism so it became commonplace.

Third, there is a transfer of social-discipline duties from one organisation to another. This happens when the state controls the mechanisms for discipline. Formerly performed by church, police officers now carry out the functions. The police were seen as the direct expression of absolute monarchy. Then, there was a constant state of surveillance and visible power which was not yet verifiable. Panopticism had permeated the society. (330-331)

The discipline is not an organization or apparatus. It’s a power. This power can be used and manipulated by a technology known as panopticism. Here, it’s the job of the government or other leaders to make sure discipline prevails in society. The solution is not technological, but a new society. The modern society

In contrast to the previous focus on the public and community, now people are more concerned with the individual. In our society, surveillance has taken over, and we are fulfilling the historical program that Bentham called a technical programme. We are in the machine of panoptic power. (334)

Panopticism relies on discipline and power. It has evolved from being a rare event to being the basis of our society’s surveillance. It is a very dangerous device based upon Jeremy Benthams Panopticon. This technology is a dangerous tool that has taken over society. It puts us at risk of being controlled by anyone, anywhere.