Panoptic Influence in Modern Society

The Panopticon is a simplistic structure that is able to harness the power of the unknown to control a mass of individuals.  This plain design, an outer ring of cells circling a central tower, relies on the idea that someone being watched will be less likely to act out or will increase productivity.  But is this truly the case?  Foucault uses the metaphor of the plague that swept through Europe as an example of its effectiveness.  The plague, he describes, as a force that allowed the complete control of a town.  When the plague would break out, the masses would be quarantined to their homes and every individual would be accounted for.  If you were to leave your home you could be killed.  And it was this fear of being discovered escaping that led to the extreme effectiveness of the plague as a governmental enforcer.  The Panoptic principle of observation as the largest deterrent of acting out can be seen in modern situations.  The use of security cameras, in most cases, will deter the criminal from committing a crime.  However, just like the tower in the Panopticon does not need a person inside to still work effectively, the cameras do not have to even be hooked up or real for that matter to still deter crime.  In Bordo and Nochlin, the advertisers influence the public to dress and behave like the individuals in the ads.  This power comes from Foucault’s Panopticon.  The public will be fearful of being different, and seen by their peers as different, and will succumb to the advertisements and purchase the products.  The Panopticon is easy to see how it functions, but in the real world, the so called “tower” is less obvious.  It is embedded within art, ads, schools, and clothing.  The Panoptic structure is alive in modern society today.  

The all seeing eye is representative of the tower in the Panopticon.