Institutions and institutional power - panopticism

1791 - The Panopticon - Foucault saw this as a metaphor for discipline & social control. 

MICHEL FOUCAULT (1926 - 1984)
- Madness & civilization 
- Discipline & punish : the birth of the prison. 


Madness & civilization 
- The great confinement (late 1600s)
 > beforehand, mad people, those other than the norm were almost accepted i.e the village idiot...
 > this wasn't just the insane, included criminals, single mothers, unemployed , the idle.
 > they were forced to work, through threats and violence
- People began to see these 'houses of correction as a gross error'
- The combination of people, the mad, criminals etc... began to corrupt everyone else in the institutions.


This marked a shift from physical control to mental control 
- which still goes on. 

& the emergence of specialists - doctors - psychiatrists
these were there to legitimaise the institutions 

Internalised responsibility
>shift from someone else controlling them, to their own conscience.

Deviants used to be punished in the most humiliating / violent / public manor possible
GUY FAWKES 
- This was meant not to correct their behavior but to control them, by showing what will happen if they do wrong.

Disciplinary society & disciplinary power
Foucault describes discipline as a technique of modern social control 

JEREMY BENTHAM'S PANOPTICON
proposed 1791 but never actually made.
- Bentham thought it could have multiple functions > school > asylum > but mostly... a prison.

A circular construction with rooms around the outside and a central tower with a view of all the rooms.
Each room is back lit so that the subject is clearly visible.
The central tower is in darkness so that the inmates cannot see into the central tower.

Inmates are permanently on display
and permanently isolated

They know they are being watched but are not able to verify it due to the central tower (representing institutional power) not being lit 
> the effect this has is that inmates will always behave in the way they think they should if they're being watched.
> because of the belief that they are always under scrutiny.
> people in turn begin to control their own behaviour.

Eventually - there didn't need to be guards in the tower because the physiological effect brought on just from believing that they were being watched was enough.
Perfect mechanism for control.
- People build up internal discipline
foucault called it a "machine for the automatic functioning of power" 

The panopticon also allowed for measured performance of inmates - another mechanism of social control
They then assumed responsibility for their own actions > making them more productive. 
it's to do with the arrangement of the space > allowing for scrutiny by the institution and pushes production from the worker/inmates/students...

-reforms prisoners
-helps treat patients

PANOPTICISM
this is the emergence (for foucault) of a new model for control.
panopticism is about training. training the minds of the people under scrutiny.


RELIES ON THE KNOWLEDGE YOU'RE ALWAYS BEING WATCHED, AND ARE AWARE OF IT. IN TURN MAKES YOU WORK HARDER BECAUSE YOU THINK THAT YOU'LL BE CAUGHT OUT.

Examples of panopticism in practice.
-Open plan office 
The Office - Ricky Gervais puts on a facade that he's the perfect boss for the cameras because he knows he's being watched and others will see it.
-Libraries
No one tells you to be quiet or to control yourself, you just do...
-Art Galleries 
-Bars 
Modern bars move away from stalls and seperate compartments in favour of more open plan bars with good visibility throughout.

CCTV, Google maps. 
these build into you the fear of always being caught out because there could always be someone watching you.

Pentonville prison
-lecture theatre aims to make people more productive.

However it doesn't apply only to the design of a space.
-The register
-Staff files - doesnt know what's in it.
Paranoia 
the idea that people are keeping records on you
-Visible reminders that they are being monitored, so they won't step out of line.

Prevention methods. (fake cameras etc) 
college cards > red & blue differentiates between students & staff.
Monitored hours - clocking in & out of college

Relationship between power, knowledge & body 
-direct relationship between mental control & physical responses. 
People become 'Docile' obedient bodies. - produced by modern disciplinary society.
society
-Self monitoring
-self correcting
-obedient. 
Disciplinary techniques.
-government campaigns about going to the gym
-means people will be more productive as they're healthier. 
- people should work longer and harder now because they are healthier. 
Panopticism relates to the body
Body is always on display > make yourself anxious

Television is like a metaphor for the panopticon 
with everyone focused around a central point yet they are all watching individually.


Foucault & power 
Power isn't a 'thing' which people have, that they can wield.
It is a relationship
The exercise of power relies on there being the capacity for resistance.

1984 - film

Facebook is also panoptic.
Everything you post will be recorded so people aren't themselves.
It's a performance


Vito Acconci 'Following piece' (1969)
follows someone - stalking
live in the illusion we are in control of our actions/situation.

Chris Burden - Samson (1985)


Foucault - Panopticism as a form of discipline
               - techniques of the body