Panopticism

     In the time of the plague, inhabitants were quarantined to their houses and forced to appear at the windows so life and death can be reviewed. This process allowed power to be "exercised without division, according to a continuous hierarchical figure," and it was a "compact model of the disciplinary mechanism" (283).The Panopticon is an architectural representation of the process of inserting an individual in a fixed place and monitoring them at all times. Similar to observing quarantined inhabitants, the Panopticon allows for individuals the be visible at all times from their cells that are around a central watch tower. Foucault states, "the surveillance is permanent in its effects even if it is discontinuous in its action" (288). He is trying to say that the central tower creates a feeling of being watched even if no supervisor is in the tower. Therefore, individuals will assume they are always being watched and will continuously act the appropriate way. The Panopticon "should be a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it" and "the inmates should be caught up in a power situation of which they themselves are the bearers" (288). This shows how the Panopticon is a disciplinary mechanisms. It takes power away from a single individual and spreads power through the relations between people, or in this case the relation between the inmate and the central tower. By putting power into the relations, the Panopticon allows discipline to be individualized. The function of the Panopticon can be used in many ways, and it will "produce homogeneous effects of power" (289). Foucault explains that putting power into relations will increase efficiency in educational, military, industrial, an medical fields. This architectural disciplinary machine can improve the efficiency of a worker or a student, or it can improve the morality of a criminal. Foucault expresses that the design of the Panopticon is used in each of theses types of institutions by stating, "Is it surprising that prisons resemble factories, schools, barracks, hospitals, which all resemble prisons?" (309)