Panopticon
The Panopticon is a conceptual prison design created by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century, intended to promote inmate reformation through the principle of constant surveillance. The structure is characterized by a circular design with individual cells facing a central guard tower, allowing a watchful inspector to observe inmates without them knowing when they are being watched. Bentham envisioned that this uncertainty would encourage prisoners to regulate their own behavior, ultimately leading to self-improvement. His ideas influenced prison architecture worldwide and introduced broader concepts of societal surveillance.
The Panopticon's philosophy was later expanded by French philosopher Michel Foucault, who viewed it as a reflection of modern societal control mechanisms, where individuals internalize the potential for observation and conform to societal norms. Foucault argued that this form of oversight could lead to a culture of self-regulation that maintained the status quo, potentially at the expense of individual freedoms. Today, elements of the Panopticon can be observed in various institutions, including schools, hospitals, and even through modern technology such as the Internet and surveillance systems, highlighting its enduring relevance in discussions about privacy and control in contemporary society.
Panopticon
A panopticon is a kind of penitentiary building first designed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century. As conceived by Bentham, panopticons are large, round rooms with inmates' cells situated around the wall and a guard tower in the center. Bentham hoped that the knowledge that they were being watched constantly would cause prisoners to fear shirking their assigned work and ultimately to reform themselves into model citizens. Bentham's philosophy of the panopticon was later expanded upon and criticized by twentieth-century French philosopher Michel Foucault. The panopticon survives in various other forms in the twenty-first century.
Bentham's Panopticon
By the 1780s, Jeremy Bentham had come to establish himself as a philosopher devoted to reforming and improving various aspects of civilized society, including conceiving of novel ways to maintain the order of the people. He eventually was assisted in this venture by an idea from his brother Samuel, who had been employed by Prince Potemkin in Russia. Samuel informed his brother of what he called the central inspection principle, a method used by skilled artisans to oversee the progress of novice workers they were training. It was from Samuel's relation that Bentham conceived the idea of the inspection house, which would soon become known as the panopticon. The word panopticon descends from two Greek words that together mean "all-seeing."
Bentham proposed the panopticon as a revolutionary type of prison. The building was to be constructed as a large circular room, the walls of which were lined with prisoner cells. Here, inmates would perform the manual labor they had been assigned. The prisoners could not interact with others near them. Rather, by the prison's design, the inmates would at all times face a large inspector tower in the center of the room. The prisoners would never know whether the inspector was watching any of them, but the inspector could observe any of them at any time and could even communicate directly with individual inmates via what Bentham called "conversation tubes."
With his panopticon, Bentham hoped to achieve in society what never before had been achieved: control of the mind rather than the body. Bentham believed that if prisoners knew they were under surveillance but never knew exactly when, they would discipline themselves to complete their tasks simply because they would fear the punishment they might receive if the inspector discovered that they were not completing their work. Ultimately, Bentham intended the panopticon to reform rather than punish society's wrongdoers; by the end of their sentences, prisoners would have improved their behaviors on their own without suffering the harsh coercions inflicted on prisoners in past ages.
The reformation of prisoners, however, was only one of Bentham's objectives in creating the panopticon. He hoped the idea of potentially constant surveillance could be introduced to normal society as a way of discouraging crime and deviancy. Just as inmates in a prison would rehabilitate themselves of their own volition, Bentham argued, societies' citizens would keep themselves in order under the supervision of the state in all public spaces.
Although this did not occur in Bentham's lifetime, his panopticon design inspired the architecture of a number of prisons that opened in various countries both while he was alive and after he died in 1832. One example was the prison established on Italy's Santo Stefano Island in 1795, which resembled a kind of panopticon and closed in 1965. A prison constructed in Lelystad, The Netherlands, in 1995 features domed buildings with centralized guard stations. Aside from the physical influences of the panopticon on actual incarceration centers, Bentham's core philosophy about the prison's method of discipline survived to later eras and was prominently expounded upon in the twentieth century by French philosopher Michel Foucault.
Foucault's Panopticon
Foucault used Bentham's model for the panopticon primarily to show how the twentieth century could be viewed as a "carceral culture," or one featuring prison-like social complexes designed to force the population into maintaining its own order. Foucault argued that the panopticon was present in modern society—for example, in the form of auditorium-style classrooms, in which instructors could view all students at all times; in the rigid grid designs of city streets, which eliminated potential hiding places; and in the floor plans of hospitals and factories, designed so superiors could constantly view their patients and workers, respectively.
To Foucault, modern societal panopticons made institutions more efficient, although not in a positive sense, by essentially forcing their subjects to take on the roles of both the instructor and the disciplined. By knowing their actions could at any moment be observed by an authority, Foucault believed, people would learn the rules and effectively subjugate themselves for fear of punishment, a process known as internalization. He asserted that this kind of conformity is a great danger to society because it can lead to the creation of states like Nazi Germany, in which the people were cowed into accepting unfair laws so they could never be observed disobeying them.
Another criticism that Foucault directed at the panopticon's intention of creating self-reformation was its overwhelming emphasis on maintaining the status quo, particularly in people's private matters. When placed under the authority of teachers, doctors, judges, and various other professions, Foucault argued, people subject their behaviors and bodies to numerous kinds of "normal," as determined by society. It is this subjection that further imprisons people's minds.
The panopticon style of societal surveillance can still be found in the modern era. The Internet, cell phones, government-sponsored censuses, credit cards, and public security cameras are all examples of contemporary institutions that can be used to track and monitor the world populace. Although Bentham's actual panopticon prison is seen today only in rare instances, his philosophy of public surveillance creating self-discipline continues to survive.
Bibliography
Felluga, Dino. "Modules on Foucault: On Panoptic and Carceral Society." Purdue University, www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/newhistoricism/modules/foucaultcarceral.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.
Leclercq-Vandelannoitte, Aurelie. "The Panopticon, An Emblematic Concept in Management and Organization Studies: Heaven or Hell?" International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 25, no. 1, 24 June 2022, pp. 52-74, doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12305. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.
Williams, Stephen. "The New Panopticon." American Philosophical Association, 6 Mar. 2023, blog.apaonline.org/2023/03/06/the-new-panopticon/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.