"Literature, art and their respective produces do not exist independently…"
- Randal Johnson in Walker & Chaplin (full quote on VLE)
How institutions control our thoughts and behaviour
How our ideas are not produced independently - everything determines what we product
Michael Foucault
1926 - 1984
Activist for gay rights, civil rights etc (research in more depth)
1) Madness & civilisation (asylum, psychiatry)
2) Discipline & punish (the birth of prison)
In pre-modern societies, madness was through differently as they led a very tolerant life. They were seen as endearing and entertaining and were accepted as part of society.
In the end of the 1600's, there was a change of society due to the rise of religion Those who fell out of the socially accepted norm were stigmatised
The Great Confinement (GET IMAGES)
- For those who were not socially productive
- The insane, criminal, poor, unemployed, single mothers and those who couldn't work
- They were forced to work with the threat of being beater
- Used to curb unemployment
- Corrupted people even more
Different institutions began to emerge
- The birth of the asylum
- Sane were separated from the insane
- Distinction between 'normal' and 'abnormal'
- Were judged who was 'right' or 'wrong'
- Insane were treated like minors
- Given rewards for doing things well
Foucault sees this as an important shift as society soon starts to realise there are other ways to control citizens than using physical punishment.
Emergence of forms of knowledge
- Biology, psychiatry, medicine etc
- Legitimise the practices of hospitals
- Foucault aims to show these affects society dramatically (LOOK AT VLE)
Pre-modern societies
Abnormal/deviants were publicly humiliated and punished
Punishment wasn't used to 'correct' or 'train', it was simply a means of showing being abnormal is not acceptable
Guy Fawkes
- "That you be drawn on a hurdle…" QUOTE ON PRESENTATION
- Made an example of him
- Shows no one should challenge the King
Guillotine
- Idea of control
- Wielding the head in-front of others connotes power
Panopticon
Designed by Jermemy Bentham (LOOK IN MORE DEPTH)
- An analogy of modern disciplinary society and social control
- Foucault writes in 1970 about 1791 Panopticon
- There were many uses including
- Hospitals
- Schools
- Asylum
- Prison
Cells around the outside were looking onto a centralised tower where guards were stationed. Prisoners were constantly backlit and were unable to communicate with others.
- Each prisoner can see the central observation tower
- Were unable to see each other
- Permanently on display & isolated
- The tower was not lit so prisoners could not see they were being watched but knew they were; however, this could not be verified by themselves
** The panopticon internalises in the individual's conscious state that he is always being watched **
- Prisoners always under scrutiny
- People begin to control themselves and did not attempt to escape
- Bars or even guards were not necessary as people controlled themselves rather than having to be controlled
- it was an internal responsibility
- Mental punishment, not physical
"Hence the major effect…" ON PRESENTATION
Surrey Asylum
- Isolated laboratories
- Treated as lab rats
- Were compared and contrasted against one another
Presidio Modelo
The Presidio Modelo was a "model prison" of Panopticon design. It was built in Cuba under President-turned-dictator Gerardo Machado between 1926–1928. Although it was built to house 2500 prisoners, by 1961, there were 6000 - 8000 prisoners leading to riots and hunger strikes due to overpopulation.
The purpose of the Panopticon
- Allows scrutiny
- Aims to make them productive and useful
- Allows supervision to experiment on subjects
In a lecture theatre, for example, the tutor can see everyone who are aware they are being watched, therefore making them more productive - the know they will be inevitably caught out if not behaving in the 'correct' manner.
- Reforms prisoners
- Helps treat patients
- Helps instruct schoolchilden
- Helps confine and study the insane
- Helps supervise workers
Elements of panopticism can be seen in contemporary life
** Acting in the way you THINK a NORMAL citizen should act **
Open plan office
- Boss can see all employees
- Employees known they can be caught out
- People are more productive
- Boss is a reminder of institutional power, much like the guards in the Panopticon
The Office (TV show)
- David brent knows he is being filmed, watched and observed
- Causes him to change his behaviour, much to the confusion of his employees
Library
- Behaviour changes
- Automatic silence without any indication/warning necessary
Pubs/bars
- Traditional pubs are modular and intimate
- In modern/contemporary bars, you know you are being watched and therefore feel less at ease
- Spaces are easier to control
CCTV is an obvious example
- Visible reminder therefore there is no need for them to be hidden
- Instructed to behave
- People shouldn't need to be caught out, they should already know how to behave therefore CCTV cameras are used as a warning
Google Maps
- Personal knowledge is available for everyone to access
- Our lives are recorded and we are constantly reminded
- Fear of being caught out
Pentonville Prison (LOOK UP ONLINE)
Broherton Library (LOOK UP ONLINE)
- Elements of the Panopticon
Registers
- Constantly monitored
- Compare and contrast with other students
- We as students are subject to panopticism
Disciplinary techniques
QUOTE BY DAMAHER, SCHIRATOR & WEBB
- Gyms, 5-a-day, health initiatives
- Everyone becomes healthier so they are better workers
- Visual reminders that bodies are always on display
- No-one forces you to go to the gym
- Self-anxiety
Television
- Metaphor of panopticism
- Fixed, controlled (even if communal)
- Constantly receiving instructions
1984 book/film
- Panopticism is evident throughout
- Every single action of the protagonist is caught out
- Everything is done internally
Facebook/social media
- Everything you post is recorded and watched by your circle of friends
- Your own behaviour is monitored constantly
- Forces you to alter your own behaviour - you are not always 'yourself'
Art
Vito Acconi 'Following piece' (1969)
- Responded to panopticism
- Follows people around their daily life
** We live in an illusion where we are in control of our own lives **
Chris Burden 'Samson' (1985)
- Visitors become subjects
- Beam of oak attached to a vice which is pushed against the supporting walls
- The turnstile entrances tightens the vice
- The more people who enter, the more likely the room will collapse
- Art controlling the institution and its visitors
Summary
Panopticism relies on people knowing they are visible and being monitored
Relationship between power, knowledge and the body
- Direct relationship between mental and physical control
- "Power relations have an immediate…" QUOTE PRESENTATION
Displinary society produces what Foucault calls 'docile bodies'
- Self-monitoring
- Self-correcting
- Obedient, docile bodies
Foucault's definition is NOT a top-down model as with Marism (that ruling class has a power over the working class which they can exercise whenever. Power is not a thing or a capacity people have - it is a relation between individuals and groups and only exists when being exercised. The exercise of power relies on there being the capacity of people. (REST ON VLE)
