Self Governance

From what I gather the idea behind the Panopticism is surveillance as a safety measure or as a means of learning human behavior. The various examples that were given ranged from the plague to a king’s menagerie. The former order counters disease and separates the unclean from the pure. The Latter uses architecture as a means of observation; both establish a tacit sense of power over the observed and isolated individuals. The point is made that there are various institutions like school that in some way exercise this ability to govern the people in an unspoken way. The idea is to exercise authority and power by enabling an inmate or whoever is within the rooms of the Panopticon to govern themselves. It is a psychological dominance. The people will self-govern because they know they are being watched but not when. They will therefore always be on good behavior. This is why the Panopticism claims to be so effective, if people self govern then very little policing is needed. One does not need to be in a panoptic building to self govern just knowing that there are surveillance cameras influences most people to be on their best behavior. The idea behind cameras is also for safety. In a parking lot people feel secure because they know there are cameras watching, unfortunately one doesn’t know when or if those cameras are on. By the same token surveillance cameras in a store make a thief think twice before stealing anything because they just don’t know if the cameras are being watched or not. This gives new meaning to the phrase “knowledge is power.”     

            Surveillance provides knowledge of human behaviors that can be incriminating or embarrassing. There are many examples of this in our current government and in our current societies. The surveyor contrary to Foucault’s claim by exercising his power becomes a despot and tyrant over the surveyed person. There is no need for a prince because the surveyor has taken his place but unlike a prince he has psychologically gained control over the individual. If the individual changes his behavior out of fear of the surveyor he has been dominated. It is kind of scary to think that this is how our society works in a lot of ways. We do self govern or police each other. It is easy to dissociate from the Panopticon because we think that only inmates at a penitentiary are subject to the gaze of whoever is in the central tower. There may not be a tower at every corner but there are cameras, and there is the possibility that our phones are being tapped and our Internet activity is being logged. Surveillance as a protective measure is not a foreign concept in our time but all too present. This is not a foreign concept in bleak house either, as everyone is watching everyone. This brings to mind the book 1984 and “big brother is watching” not unlike the image of Uncle Sam.