The Arcane Front Panopticon: Symbol of Our Time The Panopticon is a type of institutional building designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century. The concept of the design is to allow a single watchman to observe all inmates of an institution without them being able to tell whether they are being watched or not. Although it is physically impossible for the single watchman to observe all cells at once, the fact that the inmates cannot know when they are being watched means that they all must act as though they are watched at all times, effectively controlling their own behavior constantly. Inmates quickly learn to feel a gaze on them, and soon don’t need guards standing over them at all times to abide by specified rules. They keep themselves in line, for that gaze is omnipresent, absolutely ingrained in their minds. Even when the guard house is vacant, the thought persists: “What if?” The Panopticon serves as a metaphor bearing great relevance in our time. “Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power. So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action; that the perfection of power should tend to render its actual exercise unnecessary; that this architectural apparatus should be a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it; in short, that the inmates should be caught up in a power situation of which they are themselves the bearers.” ‒Michel Foucault, “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison”
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 13:02:45 +0000