Michel Foucault Panopticism - Essay Example

al authorities have chosen to control citizens through the appointment of a syndic which will have an ‘absolute’ power over the town’s population. The term ‘absolute’ means that people in this ‘imaginary’ town are not allowed going out of their homes apart from the hours and the places indicated by the syndic in advance. This structure resembles with a prison and in this way the argument of Foucault that prison could be considered to have the same ‘structure’ as a hospital or a school, could be justified.

On the other hand, in order for the above scheme to operate successfully, there should be provisions for the participation of citizens in it. In this context, it is noticed by Foucault that ‘this surveillance is based on a system of permanent registration: reports from the syndics to the intendants, from the intendants to the magistrates or mayor; at the beginning of the lock up, the role of each of the inhabitants present in the town is laid down, one by one’ (Foucault, 1995). In other words, the effectiveness of this scheme could be based on the existence of a specific plan of registration through which all people participated in the relevant ‘project’ would be registered.

Under these terms, every event in the town would be precisely checked and every aspect of citizens’ life could be controlled. In real terms, the above scheme could be partially applied. In modern towns where a series of tools of surveillance has been implemented in order to control crime, the life of citizens is under the control of the state. The above situation even if justified because of the need for the protection of citizens’ life and property, it should be carefully reviewed as of the appropriateness of the machines used for the surveillance of human activities.

In fact, the conditions of life in modern town resemble the description of Foucault’s imaginary town. In accordance with Foucault this town will be a place ‘in which the individuals are