Comparing Foucault's Panopticism Then And Now

Everything In One View: Panopticism Then & Now "Everyone locked up in his cage, everyone at his window, answering to his name and showing himself when asked - it is great review of the living and the dead (Foucault 282)." Panopticism by Michel Foucault is a French philosophical essay that explores the themes of power and discipline and how it was manipulated in the seventeenth century and how it affected society over time. In "Panopticism" I noted a relationship between power and discipline in the seventeenth century with Jeremy Bentham 's Panopticon and other disciplinary examples we see to this present day. Although after reading this essay the overall question that we all want to understand is: "What is Panopticism?" In Panopticism,
In the beginning of Foucault 's essay we are taken on a journey back to the seventeenth century during a time the plague appeared in this small town. During this time we note disciplinary actions taken by the town in hopes that the plague could be contolled. The disciplinary actions taken by the town was one of the earliest forms of "Panopticism." The first step taken was the "strict spatial partioning," which involved closing of the town, prohibition from leaving the town on pain of death, and the killing of stray animals (Foucault 282). This action taken eliminated and shutdown all causes of what could carry or contain the disease, which in turn kept the townspeople isolated from
We see these disciplinary models in schools, jails, quarantines, and even the government. We also see it in many great civilizations and eras over time. The architecture of the Panopticon is similarly seen in a modern jail with control towers being heavily guarded. "This enclosed segmented space, observed at every point, in which the individuals are inserted in a fixed place, in which the slightest movements are supervised (Foucault 283)." In jail every individual is monitored and watched at all times whether from a camera or guards. Wiith schools you are constantly being monitored, you may not know it but when you are walking around the school there are several cameras, teachers and administratives, and security officers walking around watching and seeing all that goes on so if a situation was to occur, it could handled and taken care of with ease. Knowing that you are being monitored makes a student behave, participate, and learn the materials being taught to them in school.As you can see Jeremy Bentham 's disciplinary model "Panopticon" can still be seen to this present day just in other forms of