Panopticism - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Panopticon made discipline more economical and efficient compared to other forms of discipline and further represented power and control due to minimal human operations associated with it. No prisoner would realize that they were being watched from the tower (Foucault 195-200). The panopticon could be operated by anybody and would be used in very many places apart from prison cells. Key words; power, discipline, panopticon, disciplinary It is undeniable that the world would be a better claim when power and discipline is applied in effective gaining of control; this is because panopticon is used to represent discipline and power and further transformation of disciplinary techniques. Concept of panopticism is very evident in the current society where there is devolvement of power and administration services. For instance, a strict spatial partitioning and dividing the town into distinct quarters and every quarter governed by an intendant was the order of the day. Every street was put under control of a syndic who would keep it under strict surveillance in such a way that if he left the city he would be convicted to death. Everyone was ordered to stay within and the syndic would lock all the doors from outside before handing over keys to the intendant because no one was allowed to leave on death pain. Just like the panopticim, there are several divisions of administration put in place to reach the citizens at the grassroots level. A federal government for example, has some of its powers transferred to the states and even further in smaller divisions. There is one central power with several branches that everyone looks up to. Idea of plague has been used as a base of creating discipline just like other criminal acts such as terrorism in the current society. Disciplinary mechanism was introduced by the fear of the plague and this act as the origin of all the modern punishment. Visibility from the Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon tower is used as a trap. It was possible to see every individual including a schoolboy or prisoner being incarcerated but the victims could not communicate with each other. Terrorism is considered as one of the major crimes in the current society and the government has therefore created some divisions such as Afghanistan as some of the hot spots. Sentences related to terrorism are very severe thus causing fear amongst the public. Communication sector is being manipulated just to ensure minimal terror by scrutinizing any form of communication or money transfers. Just like in panopticism, the crowd was put away from this and the tower brought a sense of visibility that represented a functioning authority. Power is believed to be visible though unverifiable as a prisoner would always see the tower but remains ignorant about where is watched or observed. Panopticism concept can be compared with the current Intelligence and correctional facilities used in testing behaviors and capturing criminals. Panopticon is grounded on the royal zoo at Versailles as it allows to do the work of naturalist and also acts as a laboratory of power. It is laboratory of power because it provides a base in which prisoners and staffs are tested. It is also apparent that the plague afflicted town and the tower depicts change of disciplinary program. FBI has the responsibility of putting suspects on the radar and testing their behaviors or monitoring their behaviors before capturing them. this is a common activity carried out particularly while pursuing terrorists. Panopticism symbolizes the wider police force employed at various stations across the country to maintain law and order in the modern world.The tower ...Download file to see next pagesRead More