Thoughts on panopticism

Foucault’s writing on the panopticon has been the most thought provoking thing for me that we have read this quarter. When you consider what conditions our actions in society, it is obvious that it is the feeling of being watched that determines how we act. Whether you simply don’t shoplift or you dance when you are on camera at a sporting event, being watched by others is the basis for how we are conditioned or disciplined to act amongst each other. Something I cannot help but think about when I consider this topic is the ways in which this had made our society more productive. It is amazing to think that one camera placed in a strategic location in a public place can do the same job that used to require a large police or governmental force to be posted at all hours. And once you know that you are being watched, you start to feel like you could always be being watched and so, even in the privacy of your own home, you are much more reluctant to do something that might seem strange or illegal. When this becomes fully internalized in people, it is amazing at what it does for the economy. Not having to allocate as many resources towards punishing subjects allows for growth in so many other areas. Although I certainly feel like video surveillance and now internet surveillance limit our freedom and in a sense truly dominate our lives, I cannot help but sit back in awe of the way in which panopticism is able to rule over people in such an efficient fashion. I think that throughout my lifetime, it will be a hotly contested issue of whether the benefits of these new invasive types of surveillance can fit in with the ideals articulated by the constitution.