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Foucault Discipline And Punish

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Foucault Discipline And Punish
The storyline of the book, Discipline and Punish discusses the history of the penal system that exists today. He also takes the opportunity to focus on how it has changed from decades before and what factors have contributed to such a drastic change. Foucault also uses his ideas of power and discourse to debate how they have both influenced the rise of the form of modern day punishment that we experience today. The author also relates the penal system and the process of it to reflect the sense of social control that is used today. In essence, he relates the modern system of punishment to the ways in which we control the society today. He also reveals in a different light the how the foundation of the penal system is also reinforced into society …show more content…
Foucault defines this as disciplinary power is now portrayed to Bentham's Panopticon. The Panopticon is seen as a building or tower that constantly supervises the behavior of individuals. However, these individuals never actually know if there are being watched or not but they assume that they are constantly being overseen. The advantage of this is that individuals can be supervised and controlled efficiently. He goes on to relate it to the world that we live in today by concluding that they are several institutions that act like …show more content…
Another idea of Foucault’s that is reflective in the book is Discourses. Foucault claims that there are several examples of discourses in society today that control the modern society. Hence the panopticon that started in prison is also in effect in the outside world. Discourses have to deal with a whole specialized area that is developed to control and affect people’s everyday behavior. Much like the panopticon theory of prisons there are many panopticons in society that impact a person’s behavior. However, we must remember that with this notion; individuals believe that they are continually being watched without proof that they actually are. In society, there are cameras everywhere that monitor our every move. For example, today when we ride our transit system we have the idea that we are constantly being monitored. Hence we create a sense of guilt if we think about doing anything out of the norm or considered
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