Institutions in terms of groups or things which have organised practices. Artists and designers work within these institutions, this tells them ultimately what's good and what's bad and directs their practice.
Aims:
- Understand the principles of Panopticon.
- Understand Michel Foucault's concept of 'disciplinary society'.
Michel Foucault
(1926 - 1984)
Madness & Civilisation.
Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison.
The Great Confinement (late 1600's). Madness was looked upon differently. More like a village idiot mentality.
Anyone who was seen as lacking in social productivity was put into 'Houses of Correction' to curb unemployment and idleness. This included, madmen, criminals, single mothers etc. Anyone who was seen to not be useful to the overall institution. They were forced to work through physical punishment.
In the 18th century these houses of correction had begun to look unsavoury, they were starting to seem like a mistake. This gave birth to specialist institutions to house these people such as prisons for the criminals and asylum's for the mentally challenged.
In the asylum's they were almost treated like children, being rewarded for good behaviour and punished for the other. Foucault states this as the beginning of modern practices such as psychiatry. He begins to see how these institutions have started to alter people's consciousness.
Punishment was used by the state as a statement of power over it's people. Public disciplines showed the people the consequences of not obeying them. Such as the Guillotine in France.
Foucault was interested in how this spawned the modern 'disciplinary society'. "Discipline is a 'technology'". He calls this study Panopticism named after a building called the Panopticon proposed by Jeremy Bentham in 1791. It was designed as a multi-functional building, meaning it could be a list of things including prison's and asylums. What was special about this was the mental affect it would have on it's inhabitants. Each cell faced inwards towards the centre of the cylindrical building where lied an observational tower holding the prison guards. This is really all they can see, their supervisors, not the other inmates across the way. This meant constant supervision, meaning any bad behaviour would instantly be spotted, trying to project a mentality of good behaviour because there almost seems no point in acting in any other way. The Panopticon internalises in the individual the conscious state that he is always being watched.
Was claimed to be able to reform prisoners, treat patients, instruct schoolchildren, confine but also study the insane, helps supervise workers, helps put beggars and idlers to work.
Foucault says the Panopticon is a model of how modern society organises its knowledge, it's power, it's surveillance of bodies and it's 'training' of bodies.
Modern examples;
The open plan office, a modern panopticon. The workers can always be seen. Changing their behaviour knowing they are being watched, being put under scrutiny.
Open plan bar's, everyone is visible, mainly to the bouncers and the staff. This changes the way you may behave.
CCTV cameras record most places, which affects the way you behave.
Pentonville Prison was a correctional school. Each pupil was in a space divided with barriers from the pupils sat immediately next to them, all they could see was the lecturer at the front.
It's a form of mental discipline, all educational facilities employ these methods whether they are aware of it or not.
Panopticism as a mental mechanism has a physical affect on our bodies. Disciplinary Society creates what Foucault calls 'docile bodies' which are self-correcting and obedient. Without anyone forcing you, you begin to feel guilty if you don't meet this social expectations such as eating healthier and not eating your 5 a day.
Foucault and Power:
His definition is not a top-down model as with Marxism.
Power is not a thing or a capacity people have - it is a relation between different individuals and groups, and only exists when it is being exercised.
The capacity of power relies on there being the capacity for power to be resisted.
'Where there is no power there is no resistance'.
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