...According to the book “Ways of Reading” by Bartholomae, Petrosky, and Waite, panopticism in Foucault’s paper is the all Seeing Eye. He starts his essay of by talking about the plague in the seventeenth century. There was a closing of the town and its outer lying districts. Each street was placed under the authority of a syndic, who keeps it under surveillance. Each house was watched over by the syndic who would come to lock each door from the outside of the house. Everyone was quarantined into their homes. The severity of this lack of freedom was expressed in Foucault’s essay when he said inspection functions ceaselessly. The gaze is alert everywhere, and a considerable body of militia, commanded by good officers and men of substance, guards everyone, everywhere, to prompt the obedience of the people. Foucault discussed the rise of lepers, which also gave rise to disciplinary projects. Rather than separating people into groups, like they did during the plague, multiple distinctions were used to separate people. The plague-stricken town was, as Foucault states, traversed throughout the hierarchy, surveillance, writing, the town immobilized by the functions of extensive power. In order to have the perfect disciplinary functioning, one would put themselves in the place of the syndic during the plague. This control over people functioned to cut them off from all contact with each other. According to the reading, Foucault talked about the Panopticon, a building that was separated...
Words: 1386 - Pages: 6
...everywhere else there are cameras hidden watching you, without even noticing. At shopping malls, there are hidden cameras. The reason why they exist is simple: to prevent shopliftings, or in some cases, to catch shoplifters. Most customers realize that they are being watched and try to act properly, though there are some who fail to recognize or decide to ignore this fact and take the wrong path. It is not just shopping malls that have surveillance watching over people. Even when you’re driving on the street there is a hidden camera somewhere watching you to make sure you run a red light. Foucault starts Panopticism with a talk on the plague. After the explanatory introduction, Foucault presents an analysis of the prison system created by a famous economist Betham, Panopticon Readers could perceive a different conclusion as to what Panopticism is. According to my point of view Panopticism is the idea that schools are similar to prisons, and it is emphasized as well as stated throughout in the reading multiple times. The text gives a variety of examples to help the readers understand as well as analyze what the author is trying to portray. I concur with most of the ideas displayed in the text. Schools are similar to prisons due to the fact that individuals waiting for an education sit there for hours, enclosed within four walls, watched by supervisor in this case a professor. “Each individual in his place is securely confined to a cell from which he is seen from the front by the supervisor...
Words: 1271 - Pages: 6
...There is No Such Thing as a Power Shortage In his essay “Panopticism”, Michel Foucault interprets the power-dynamics ingrained in the structure of the panopticon, a self-disciplining prison built by Jeremy Bentham in the nineteenth century. Foucault investigates the functions of the panopticon and realizes that it provides the framework for many aspects of modern society. However, “ panopticism has received little attention” because its utility has been greatly diffused in the lives, to the point where its functions are not readily recognized, of every individual (Foucault 234). Foucault writes his essay in 1975, describing ways that his theory of panopticism is present within past centuries and can be directly connected with society during his time. Almost thirty-five years later, the advances in society have increased leading to greater technology such as, portable computers, cell phones, and the Internet. These developments were beyond the initial scope of Foucault, yet panopticism’s function to construct individuals effectively is endless and timeless. In modern society, there is a booming population of people of all ages utilizing social networking sites including Facebook. Although individuals on Facebook may not advertently realize the presence of panopticism, they are in fact conditioned in its function as both the observer and the observed. The panopticon is an architecturally unique prison that severs the function of a machine. In the center of the building there...
Words: 1856 - Pages: 8
...Panopticism Summary Foucault begins with a description of measures to be taken against the plague in the seventeenth century: partitioning of space and closing off houses, constant inspection and registration. Processes of quarantine and purification operate. The plague is met by order. Lepers were also separated from society, but the aim behind this was to create a pure community. The plague measures aim at a disciplined community. The plague stands as an image against which the idea of discipline was created. The existence of a whole set of techniques and institutions for measuring and supervising abnormal beings brings into play the disciplinary mechanisms created by the fear of the plague. All modern mechanisms for controlling abnormal individuals derive from these. Foucault then discusses Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, a building with a tower at the center from which it is possible to see each cell in which a prisoner or schoolboy is incarcerated. Visibility is a trap. Each individual is seen but cannot communicate with the warders or other prisoners. The crowd is abolished. The panopticon induces a sense of permanent visibility that ensures the functioning of power. Bentham decreed that power should be visible yet unverifiable. The prisoner can always see the tower but never knows from where he is being observed. The possibility that the panopticon is based on the royal menagerie at Versailles is raised. The Panopticon allows on to do the work of a naturalist: drawing...
Words: 1253 - Pages: 6
...Summary of “Escaping the Jaundiced Eye: Foucauldian Panopticism in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’” Courtney Katich Baker College Bak beautifully discusses how isolation (aka “rest”) was used as treatment in the nineteenth-century for depression in women. Doctors used rest or isolation as treatment for “nervous prostration”(Bak, 1994). The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) is put on a treatment plan by her husband/doctor that is of isolation. Bak asks a question about the narrator’s sanity; was she already mad in the start of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and just reliving the decline that has already taken place (Bak, 1994) or was the story about the narrator’s slow journey into madness? I believe that both questions are the answer to Bak’s question. Bak goes on to explain just this. Bak depicts Gilman’s description of the narrators isolated living conditions. Gilman’s description of the room leaves Bak to believe that the room would drive anyone into insanity. I know that I would surly go mad in such a place. Bak cites the feminist critic Elanie Hedges who says that the “paper symbolizes her situation as seen by the men who control her and hence her situation as seen by herself” (Bak, 1994). Bak explains how “The Yellow Wallpaper” became a feminist writing explaining that men were guilty of the storyteller's psychical imprisonment and thus the mental failure. Bak (1994) compares the room and house the narrator lives in during her depression...
Words: 795 - Pages: 4
...The essay that we read is the part of the book by Michel Foucault “Discipline & Punish” (1975), Panopticism. So, actually who is Michel Foucault and what is he known for? “He was a French philosopher and historian, associated with the structuralist and post-structuralist movements. Foucault was born in October 15, 1926, and to a big regret has died in 25th of June 1984. The book “Discipline & Punish” was published in France in 1975, and translated to English in 1977 by Alan Sheridan. “(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). The part of the essay that we read was “Panopticism” in III section DISCIPLINE 3. To begin with, let me summarize this part of the essay. What is “Panopticon” and how it works? The structure of “Panopticon” should be used...
Words: 973 - Pages: 4
...novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), both composers express the dangerous effects of tyrannical and demagogical leadership. In exploring the quote ‘If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever,’ Lang presents a perspective that both challenges and restores our faith in humanity, where an autocratic leader falls to his knees in a cry for mercy while Orwell aims to shatter it, with the subjugation of the rebellious protagonist. Both Orwell and Lang explore this through their contextual paradigms, demonstrating it through the apotheosis of human power, where both leaders’ ‘demi-god-like’ status produces an opaque view of reality and excess materialism. It is also revealed through a distorted sense of panopticism, where heavy paranoia results in an extreme form of vigilance and surveillance. In Metropolis, Lang’s perspective challenges our faith in humanity, exploring how tyrannical, unrestricted leadership can result in a selfish ‘demi-god-like’ figure, and excess materialism and wealth. The city of Metropolis presents an evocative parallel to the German Weimar Republic’s ‘goldene zwanziger’ (Golden Twenties), which is represented through the hedonistic lifestyle of the upper class, with the ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ and the ‘Yoshiwara Club.’ As symbols of moral recklessness, pleasure and decadence, this is further juxtaposed with the subjugated lower class, the luxury in which Joh Frederson, the creator of the city, lives in, coming at the...
Words: 1087 - Pages: 5
...Do we now live in a ‘panoptic’ society? Discuss through the ideas of Michel Foucault. This essay will examine French social theorist Michel Foucault’s (1926-1984), concept of Panopticism. It will give an example of the way it can be observed, through contemporary society. Firstly, it will cover a general aspect of Foucault’s work, regarding his historical method and his understanding of madness, power, knowledge and the body. It will discuss the idea of the Panopticon and how it shaped the idea of discipline and power. Furthermore, it will examine one element of Foucault’s theory, and how it could be applied in contemporary society, through the subject of security in public places. Foucault’s 1964 work Madness and Civilisation, studied the evolution of madness from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, showing the evolving change of how madness was perceived over time in society. During the time of the Renaissance, Foucault found that people who were ‘mad’ were seen as liberated (Foucault 1967). However, the classical age in the seventeenth century created ‘enormous houses of confinement’ which reduced madness to silence (Foucault 1967:35). The mid seventeenth century saw madness associated with confinement. These institutions housed people who were poor, unemployed, prisoners and insane. In 1656, the ‘Hôpital Général’ was founded in Paris and could be seen from the start, that it was not a ‘medical establishment’, but rather a sort of ‘semi-judicial structure’ (Foucault...
Words: 2282 - Pages: 10
...In the twenty first century, privacy has become an escalating issue. With all of the various information leaked to the public, it is becoming clear that privacy is dwindling since the government is slowly taking control and using new methods to spy on its people. An early concept of this idea was the Panopticon. The Panopticon was a tall tower that could spy on anybody, while the people did not know the identity of those who were spying. In Michel Foucault's article, “Panopticon” from his book, Discipline and Punish, he gives insight to the pervasive nature of the federal government and the outlandish measures they take to perform surveillance. Foucault’s description of the panopticon mirrors the invasive nature of the surveillance methods...
Words: 318 - Pages: 2
...Introduction Classical theorists strived to develop one all encompassing theory that would improve management’s effectiveness within an organization and methods for dealing with the challenges they faced (Hartman, n.d.). There are three primary “classical” theories: Scientific Management, Bureaucratic Management / Autocratic management, and Administrative Management. This paper will discuss the three primary management theories as well as discuss several other theories relating to some of the primaries, and some that were slight precursors to the classical movement such as Change Management and Autocratic Management (Sridhar, n.d.). Classical Perspective The oldest of the "formal" viewpoints of management emerged during the late nineteenth and came to be known as the classical perspective. The classical perspective roots in management occurred rapidly through expanding manufacturing organizations that typified U.S and European industrialization. Early contributions were made by management practitioners and theorist from several corners of the world (Eastern, n.d.). The classical perspective consists of three main subfields: 1. Scientific Management (by Frederick Taylor) 2. Bureaucracy Management (by Max Weber) 3. Administrative Management (by Henry Fayol) Scientific Management Theory In the 19th century machinery was changing the means of production, and managers needed to find more efficient ways of production. Traditional methods of production, where a worker...
Words: 4106 - Pages: 17
...What changes in the organisation of time, space and discipline are associated with the emergence of modern industrial work? Word Count: 1620 This essay will discuss the changes that occurred in the organisation of time, space and discipline, as a result of the emergence of modern industrial work, whereby society relied upon the use of science, technology and ultimately mechanisation to produce its goods and services. The transition of home based independent work to working for a boss in a factory had many accompanying impacts upon society. Between the years 1300 to 1650, there was a major change in the intellectual culture of Western Europe, towards the apprehension of time (Thompson 1967, p.56). The pre-industrial era was characterized by the organisation work around the four seasons. Work was focused upon the time of year, which would then determine the length of the task and the type of task which would be carried out. Thompson (1967, p.59) suggests there was a disregard for clock time, with focus on the work of Synge; who in his account of the Aran islands states a classic example of this indifference ‘and when I tell them what o’clock it is by my watch they are not satisfied, and ask how long is left them before twilight.’ This suggests during this pre-industrial period, workers were oblivious towards the clock time; rather the time of the day and its proximity to sunset would have a more significant effect in determining their working hours. Although Thompson’s...
Words: 1743 - Pages: 7
...According to the case study, the main problem is the packaging department is lack of supervisor. This department is being taken over by two supervisors, however, the packaging operation house separates with other departments, so supervisor seldom visit them. Those under panopticism are aware that they may being observed but never sure they are actually being watched at that moment. (Clegg et al. 2011 P451) The workers need to improve their efficiency and quality because the buyers will look closely at the packaging when deciding whether to buy from Treetop or another mill. Although this company is competitive in the market because of the quality, a large number of consumers switched to the competitors. Even if other departments have improved productivity and reduced operation to just one shift per day. With the problems caused by the packaging department, like decreasing in productivity, which prevent the smoothing functioning of the whole factory. The morning shift of the packaging department is unable to keep up with the combined production of the sawmill and planner departments, so the unpackaged output left for the afternoon shift. So that the company's industrial chain tends to collapse, which decline the profit of the whole company. Those managing and being managed should create more value than would be paid to them in wages and salaries. (Clegg et al. 2011, P458) Because of this. The manager’s key task as ensuring that organisation goals-because where individuals worked...
Words: 590 - Pages: 3
...Words cannot fully explain our experience of this world, yet we try to do this expressly or inadvertently in our private reverie or shared moments with others. When presented with a work dealing with text, we become in varying degrees aware of our cognitive faculties. A work which is presented to us in a direct form where its meaning and interpretation are intentionally straightforward and meant to be immediately grasped, perhaps demands less cognitive skills from us to experience a satisfactory closure. However, and because words are “free-floating signifiers” (Simon Morley, 2001, p.33), with meanings which are malleable, a piece of work dealing with text that considers this as a fundamental element, evokes a larger inventory of our cognitive powers. From here, we traverse and delve into our reservoir of fictive ingenuity when we try to make even greater sense of this work. Thus, rendering us susceptible to suggestion, and the infinite possibilities of imagining the world and ourselves in different time and space. This concept of “open work” (1980, p.45) as observed by Umberto Eco is central in my proposal of study and it aims to investigate the state of immersion in fictive discourse with others, the world and ourselves. The proposal examines how an installation piece dealing with text, time and space when presented as an “open work”, is able to engage the audience’s fictive discourse, and intensify, in particularly this notion of immersion and presence. One of the key...
Words: 623 - Pages: 3
...Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and its contemporary criticism Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” in a time when it was customary to consider women as the weaker sex, and in need of constant care and protection. There has been an overwhelming amount of literary criticism throughout the following century, with the purpose of establishing Gilman’s message. Most critics seem to agree that it is a strongly feminist text, targeting the patriarchal society of the late 19th century. Elaine Hedges sums up the most common readings of “The Yellow Wallpaper” in her essay. She herself then argues that the text’s essentially feminist point is emphasized by the fact that the narrator is destroyed by society, where she can never get free. Initially, she debates between two possibilities of what happens to the narrator in the end: she is either liberated in her madness or is defeated by it. Then she proceeds to consider the implications of the wallpaper itself. According to critics referred to by Hedges, the entangled pattern of the wallpaper itself represents a crucial text and it has been argued that this text is not written by the narrator. Instead, it is the text of social conventions and rules presented to her by her husband, and through him by the male-dominated society, where she is not allowed to write her own story. This is one of the reasons why her text then becomes “hopelessly encrypted in fantasy” (Hedges 225). Other interpretations connect the...
Words: 1116 - Pages: 5
...The course of life flows every day. Each day we get older, and each day that passes gets us one tiny step closer to death. What importance do we give to all our days? We spend about one fourth of our life span getting educated, becoming the men/women of the future. But ask yourself, why do we do it? Most would reason that it’s to get a good job, to win a lot of money and be able to have a good life, a life where all commodities can be obtained. I recently got to think, in the process of trying to obtain all this, are we still enjoying life? In the end, when the human race fails to exist, nothing will be left of us. In the views of death, once our time is almost over all that is really important are the experiences we have in our life, the knowledge of whether each of us lived the life we desired. Nietzsche says: Once upon a time, in some out of the way corner of that universe which is dispersed into numberless twinkling solar systems, there was a star upon which clever beasts invented knowing. That was the most arrogant and mendacious minute of “world history”, but nevertheless, it was only a minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths, the star cooled and congealed, and the clever beasts had to die.—One might invent such a fable, how shadowy and transient, how aimless and arbitrary the human intellect looks within nature. There were eternities during which it did not exist. And when it is all over with the human intellect, nothing will have happened. (451) In the universal...
Words: 1290 - Pages: 6
