Portfolio Task 1. Panopticism

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using not less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.

‘who take pleasure in spying and punishing’ (Foucault, 1977)

"collection of separated individualities" (Foucault, 1977 p65)

"a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power" (Foucault, 1977 p65)

"never know weather he is being looked at at any one moment, but he must be sure that he may always be so" (Foucault, 1977 p65)

"judge at a glance, without anything being concelaed" (Foucault, 1977 p67) 

"power situation of which they are themselves the bearer" (Foucault, 1977 p65).

“The plague that gave rise to disciplinary projects” (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000: 62)

“Two ways of exercising power over men, of controlling their relations, of separating out their dangerous mixtures” (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000: 62)

“He is seen, but he does not see; he is the object of information, never a subject in communication” (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000: 65)

“This surveillance is based upon a system of permanent registration” (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000: 61)

"It does not matter what motive animates him” (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000: 66)         

French philosopher Michel Foucault developed the social theory Panoptiscm which is a disciplinary technique used in society which demonstrates the relationship between power, knowledge and the body. Panoptiscm is used within everyday society as a way to control us, it is all around us from security surveillance cameras to television, gyms and lecture theaters.

The social network site 'Facebook' is a key example of panoptiscm in our modern society

We allow ourselves to be watched by all through using this networking site, it is a "power situation of which they are themselves the bearer" (Foucault, 1977 p65) we are constantly reminded how visible we are on Facebook yet few choose to apply privacy methods to our profile we have to question how private can this be on the world wide web? The fact that all photographs uploaded to 'Facebook' become their property and are copyrighted by Facebook, our personal pictures now belong to a huge corporation. Even if the account is deactivated, Facebook store all your information so you can restore your account. 


Our profile exists of information which we choose to show, although we are asked for an amount of information before we set up an account and we are suggested certain information categories to be shown publicly such as location, job, email and phone number aswell as our relationship status and interests. This is ‘strict spatial positioning’ (Foucault, 1977) as everyone has the same template profile and space on the internet. This access to our information turns us into docile bodies where we obiede to Facebook and they develop our digital character,  we are infact releasing information that can be intercepted by anyone and is used by Facebook for money making advertising purposes. Facebook direct ads to us depending on our interests, age, location etc so we can be controlled into the exposure of certain products which in turn has power over our bodies.

Everytime we log into our Facebook account it is recorded, we are monitoring ourselves and each other, we share information about what we are doing right now and there is a new function that can allows you to show people constantly where we are at any given moment “This surveillance is based upon a system of permanent registration” (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000: 61) The technology is increasing as Facebook has now become an app which can be used via smart phones, this has increased the surveillance so now we are visible everywhere. It stops being something we engage in at home for a source of communication and now has the ability of being a surveyor of our every move.

As Foucalt says ‘who take pleasure in spying and punishing’ (Foucault, 1977). What are these docile bodies that we have become that spend hours searching for people and spying into their lives, comparing our friend list and events which facebook encourages us to do, constantly updating and sharing information, it becomes the norm and we stop questioning our actions. Those embarassing photographs from a night out that you would choose not to share have been exposed to millions of people, not only friends but potential colleagues and could get in the hands of the wrong people and can have negative effects on society, after all we cannot trust that everyone using Facebook has good intentions.