Cop Lecture 5 - Panopticism

This lecture was my favourite so far - full of really interesting stuff and could be relevant to a wide variety of topics, even within what I am thinking of looking into. 

Panopticism - modern disciplinary society. Panopticism is about institutions and institutional power. 

The Great Confinement (late 1600's) - houses of 'correction' were put in place to curb unemployment and idleness. The people who didn't work, e.g. the loveable 'village idiot' were segregated and there became a distinction between the mad and the sane; before this, no one had that much of a problem with it. These houses of correction were workhouses and similar to prisons; types of people who were sent there were the deemed mad, criminals, the homeless. These workhouses are often referred to as the 'birth of the asylum' and they later developed into specific institutions for particular corrections, and thus came a society that disciplines by force rather than persuasion. 

The asylum brought around new forms of knowledge and specialisms, e.g. psychiatrists, doctors and refined practices of medicine. It also brought around other types of institution such as hospitals and schools. 

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) - institutions alter our consciousness and by making us act certain ways. "Discipline is a technology [aimed at] how to keep someone under surveillance and control their conduct, behaviour, aptitudes, how to multiply his capacities etc."

Jeremy Bentham - designed 'The Panopticon' in 1791, a building designed to maximise the effectiveness of what ever institution it is being used for (a prison, a school etc). A good example was Millbank Prison (now the site of the Tate Modern) in London. The idea was the maximise surveillance and visibility; you are literally left staring into the face of the person who is enforcing the 'correction' upon you, while they can see whatever you are doing at all hours of the day, every day. This made the correction faster and made people more productive in the workplace, criminals correct their ways and enhanced self-regulation. 

Western societies changed from having rules imposed by a ruler e.g. a king, to a new mode of power; Panopticism. A good modern examples are open plan offices, where your boss and co-workers can see you at all times, so you can't sit around on Youtube all day; fear of being caught will make you do your work and do lots of it. Another is Google Maps (constant surveillance!)

This creates 'Docile Bodies' (Foucault 1975) - self-monitoring, self-correcting, obedient bodies. A perfect example is a soldier in the army or a teachers perfect student. You just do exactly as you are told. 

"Where there is power, there is resistance" - power is a relationship that we can play, to get the most out of it for ourselves. 

Art Example - Vito Acconci "Seedbed" (1972) - super creepy.