The Power of Panopticism

The concept of power has been debated among philosophers for as long as humans have been able to record. What makes someone or something powerful, and what exactly does that mean to us as individuals? Michel Foucault provides a glimpse at one aspect of power in his article, Panopticism. Here, he provides a definition for the " Panopticon: " an all-seeing individual or institution, which may or may not be watching a certain person or society at any given time. Within his pages, Foucault's arguments present the incredible power of the Panopticon – not as a physical idea, acquired by strength, but as something that is more felt and thought. Its power lies in its ability to frighten, and in the knowledge of what it could potentially do. Panopticism is also present in many forms in all of today's discourse communities, adding to its mystique and aura, and giving it power over numerous individuals. In analyzing the power of the Panopticon, we see that individuals within a discourse community must remain mindful of the ethics of psychological power, because it is that with which Panopticism instills fear into the members of such a community. Panopticism is powerful in many ways, but one of these is simply the way in which the Panopticon can take many different forms which are constantly around us in society. Many scholars believe that " the Panopticon should be taken not literally but as a metaphor for surveillance of all types, with emphasis on power relationships " (Dobson and Fisher 307). This means that nearly any instance of surveillance can be classified under the broad range of Panopticism. Foucault notes this early in his argument, as he connects the idea of Panopticism first to a prison, and then to a town which is under quarantine due to a plague (282-284). He connects these two situations by noting the similarities in surveillance, beneath which both are kept. Within the walls of a prison, every move of each prisoner is caught on camera. Likewise, in a quarantine situation, the government steps in to control every aspect of life in the community, so that the disease does not spread to other