Bentham's Panopticon: Forerunner of Mass Regulation or Self Regulation?

The Panopticon (Source: YouTube)

A fascinating architectural piece from 1791 which wasn't fully explored, at least theoretically, until the work of Michel Foucault in the 1960s/1970s. But, let's explore this architectural plan further because it has huge ramifications for the way we live in the 21st century.

Firstly, the idea of the Panopticon comes from it's name: basically, the all-seeing eye. Now, remembering that Jeremy Bentham drafted this plan in 1791, his proposal was taken on as a new form of prison with a tower in the middle of a multi-storey circular building. Each cell was open to the centre so that it could be seen from the tower, therefore requiring only a single guard. But, it was designed so that the prisoners could not see the guard.

This proposal is interesting in two major ways:

1. It was highly efficient. Instead of requiring a veritable "army" of guards to keep an eye on all the prisoners, it required only a single guard.
2. It was an effective form of surveillance as everyone could be "seen" from a central point (not necessarily at the same time, but still, they could all be seen), thus allowing rapid deployment of guard reinforcements as the situation required.

In the 1960s/1970s, the famous French social philosopher, Michel Foucault, took this idea one step further and also applied it to nature of modern society. The following video is from one of Foucault's lectures on this topic.

(Source: YouTube)

Foucault claimed that, in the end, the prisoners in a Panopticon prison would start to modify their behaviours because they knew they were being watched at all times. Foucault introduced the idea then, that even the one solitary guard was not necessary because the prisoners were modifying their behaviour but only assuming that a guard was present at all times (remembering that the guard was not visible to the prisoners). In effect, the prisoners were regulating their own behaviours, or self-regulating.

Now, the ramifications of Foucault's thinking on this issue are profound for modern society, particularly since September 11.

Firstly, as explained in one of my earlier Steemit posts (https://steemit.com/life/@drrobertmuller/the-difference-between-the-market-in-early-liberalism-and-in-contemporary-neoliberalism), neoliberalism is centred around the idea of self-regulation (the more that people and corporations self-regulate, the more that government can take a hands-off role in overall regulation). So, we can see the widespread adoption of security cameras and big data sharing by corporations and governments as forms of panopticons in contemporary society. For example, one could argue that security cameras act as "the guard in the tower" with everyone assuming that they're being watched, and therefore self-regulating their behaviours.

Secondly, I'd like to deviate slightly and take this into the realm of social media. What is interesting to me about social media is that it appears to have dissolved the idea of self-regulation being "encouraged" by the all-seeing eye. Social media is a type of electronic panopticon in which people's opinions and behaviours are open to scrutiny by others. Granted - social media encourages the "fishbowl behaviour" of people only generally including those in their list of friends who think the same way as they do. Nevertheless, rather than people self-regulating their behaviours on social media, we seem to have moved into a situation in which there is no regulation at all - it's almost anything goes. Sportspeople, politicians, celebrities, and everyday people are constantly getting themselves into trouble with what they post, particularly on Twitter. As well, people are getting sacked from their jobs for what they post.

So, in summing up, we now have a situation in which social media clearly has some elements of the "all-seeing eye" acting as a form of surveillance and almost citizen policing of behaviours - a kind of moral policing. And yet, our collective behaviours on social media are demonstrating that, despite this "moral policing", we don't appear to care any longer about regulating our own behaviours.

Mass regulation (the panopticon of the 18th century) or self regulation (the panopticon of the 1960s/1970s)? Well, in the 21st century, it appears to be neither.

The ramifications of this dramatic shift will be explored in future posts.

Written by Dr Robert Muller

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