Panopticism. Study Task.

The theory of ‘Panopticism’ can be seen in practice throughout contemporary society. A French philosopher named Michel Foucault birthed this theory when he associated a form of social control with a piece of institutional architecture designed by John Bentham that aimed to control the inmates or patients by the notion of constant surveillance. This structure was named the ‘Panopticon’. The foundations of this theory lie in the link between the threat of being constantly watched and good behavior. An example of this social control can be seen in any modern day shopping centre.

‘Visibility is a trap’ (Foucault, 1975). When visiting a shopping centre we are more than likely visible via CCTV and security from before we enter to after we’ve left. This is no secret. And it is no secret for a good reason. If we were not aware of this surveillance we could not be affected by it, and more importantly, controlled by it. It is difficult not to alter our behaviour to one which we know is acceptable by the surveyors if we know or at least think that these surveyors are presently watching us. The CCTV control room bears resemblance to the observation tower in Bentham’s Panopitcon. We are aware and can constantly see the cameras, however we can never be sure if someone is watching the screen we are visible on. Foucault describes this as ‘Unverifiable: the inmate must never know whether he is being looked at at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so’ (Foucault, 1975).

This is how what he calls the ‘docile body’ is created   

The Gaze and the Media. Study Task.

The Century of the Self. Study Task.

• Freuds nephew, Edward Bernays, was the first man to show American corporations how to manipulate the masses into consumer buying. He showed governments and the ruling classes how fulfilling the masses inner desires made them docile and ultimately easier to control. 
• Bernays took what he had learned from WW1 and applied it to the period of peace which followed. He noted how 'propaganda' was used to control in war, and how this same principle could certainly be utilised in times of peace. This became know as PR or Public Relations.  
• Linking products to peoples emotional desires will encourage them to behave irrationally. Using this meant inanimate started to be seen as symbols of how a person thinks of wants to be seen. Bernays originated an idea which made people have an emotional reaction and attachment to a product or service. 
• The worry for mass production was that they would over produce. They were concerned that once the need had diminished they would be left with gear they couldn't shift and the American conscious at this time was driven by need. This all changed when PR thought of a solution, they were going to make people 'want' products, again by manipulating their emotions through tactics such as celebrity endorsement.
• Bernays rarely thought or was concerned about people as individual mentality. He cared only for the mentality of groups and how he could capitalise on this. Freud however became more and more concerned with the human psyche, believing us to be far more dangerous when in groups than he had previously thought. 
• Freuds writings had a large affect on journalists and intellectuals in 1920's America. They were particularly interested in the notion of a submerged dangerous forces in modern society. It made many people question democracy in the sense that human beings could not be trusted to make such decisions. 
• It speaks of how he believed masses are driven by instinct and irrational drives, not that of the logical mind. That we are more ferocious animal then civil creatures and this threatens to erupt at any moment creating mobs and riots. Like an unstable volcano.
• Bernays became rich and powerful from this introduction of psychoanalysis to modern society and consumerism. He thought of the masses as 'stupid' and easily manipulated. However the consumer boom he was riding was abruptly ended in 1929 when the stock market collapsed in America leading to the great depression. People stopped buying things they didn't need. 
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