Michel Foucault's Discipline And Punish: The Birth Of

The third chapter of the book, “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison” by Michel Foucault is a look at the measures that were put into place in the seventeenth century when the plague was discovered in a town. The chapter, entitled Panopticism, discusses the social theory, named after the Panopticon, developed by Foucault. There is strict order that must be followed by all members of the town to ensure that the plague does not spread throughout the town and kill all of its inhabitants. There is constant surveillance of all of the people in the town and it is almost as though they are living in a prison without having ever been convicted of a crime. “Each individual is fixed in his place. And, if he moves, he does so at the risk of