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Interest meme result: the Panopticon
Mar. 23rd, 2007 07:26 pmI first heard about Foucault's fascinating model of power in modern societies while studying Media Studies at university. It literally means "omnipresent eye" and was originally the name of a Victorian prison design by Jeremy Bentham. The prison had a central tower from which the wardens could see what was happening in all the cells. The prisoners in the cells could not see whether or not there was a warden in the tower, however, so they had to behave as if they were being watched all the time, even if they might not be. Thus they were said to internalise the power relation, remaining obedient without the need for direct physical coercion.
The Panopticon theory posits that power in post-industrial societies works in the same diffused way. Subjects conform to what is required of them without any one agency forcing them to. Surveillance is a key tool in this exercise of power. But this isn't just the government watching people with CCTV - people monitor themselves and their peers too.
I was particularly interested in how this relates to feminism because it seems to me that women especially feel compelled to do things that no-one in particular is making them do, and which are arguably not in their interest. Take the example of the beauty industry. Magazines, adverts and other people encourage women to constantly monitor their own bodies and take action if they are found lacking. Yet women who, say, have plastic surgery, will always claim they are doing it "for themselves" because no-one specifically told them to do it. This illusion of freedom is something post-feminist women are particularly prone to, as they hate to admit that anyone is making them do anything. In this way, Panoptical power is exercised among the general population without most of them realising.
The Panopticon theory posits that power in post-industrial societies works in the same diffused way. Subjects conform to what is required of them without any one agency forcing them to. Surveillance is a key tool in this exercise of power. But this isn't just the government watching people with CCTV - people monitor themselves and their peers too.
I was particularly interested in how this relates to feminism because it seems to me that women especially feel compelled to do things that no-one in particular is making them do, and which are arguably not in their interest. Take the example of the beauty industry. Magazines, adverts and other people encourage women to constantly monitor their own bodies and take action if they are found lacking. Yet women who, say, have plastic surgery, will always claim they are doing it "for themselves" because no-one specifically told them to do it. This illusion of freedom is something post-feminist women are particularly prone to, as they hate to admit that anyone is making them do anything. In this way, Panoptical power is exercised among the general population without most of them realising.
