Panopticon!
conspiracy Casey
I’ve never liked theory. I avoided it as much as I could in undergrad, but I couldn’t escape Foucault. I’ve read his book Discipline and Punish three different times for class. It’s very prominent in sociology, history, and law, all of which I was engaged in. One chapter has stuck with me and I want to share it with the masses because I think about it every day. Let’s start with a hypothetical: you’re driving on a long road and can see infinitely in each direction. You know there are no other cars in any direction, just a lone stoplight stuck on red. Do you stop or do you drive through it? You KNOW no one is there. You should drive straight through it. Some of you (like me) would. Some of you would not. Why? Who’s watching? Remember this for later.
Before I get into it, let’s talk about who Foucault is. Michel Foucault is a postmodernist. Postmodernists, also called poststructuralists, believe everything is equally true or equally false. It’s a lighter form of nihilism. There is no one history but rather a multitude of narratives that contextualize events. Postmodernists find texts open to unlimited interpretations and there is no such thing as historical objectivity. Foucault has a ton of prominent works, but I’m pulling from Discipline and Punish which has a chapter on Panopticon. You can read that here if you’re interested and I HIGHLY recommend it. The work as a whole focuses on the dynamics of power in society. Foucault’s main theme across all of his works is the intersection of knowledge and power. Knowing Panopticon, for example, provides power as you now (or are about to) know about the tower and the prison and the means of surveillance.
The original Panopticon was a prison. Rather, it was an idea for a prison. Jeremy Bentham first coined the term in his book Panopticon: The Inspection House in 1791. The concept is a round prison with a tower in the middle. Every prisoner is separate and cannot see any others, just the tower. The tower has a panoramic window that’s completely blacked out meaning no one can see inside the tower but everyone in the tower and see the prisoners. As such, prisoners would behave well because someone in the tower might be watching them at any time. It’s the threat of surveillance.1 Foucault describes the goal of Panopticon being “to induce in the inmate a state of consciousness and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.”2 The inmate’s vulnerability directly promotes the structures of power by being seen without truly seeing. As Foucault writes “in the peripheric ring, one is totally seen, without ever seeing; in the central tower, one sees everything without being seen.”3 The rest of the “Panopticism” chapter explains how Panopticon creates and maintains power relations. I want to emphasize panopticism as “a generalized surveillance” that goes past prison.4 The rest of this Substack will focus on panopticism in daily life. Without leaning too into conspiracy, this knowledge might set you free (more on that later). I’m going to order my examples with increasing weirdness, so prepare for that.
My first big example is an easy one: schools. In my high school, there were cameras everywhere, but no one knew if they really worked. They were dilapidated and extremely rusty and yet, in public spaces people still followed the rules (even the dumb ones) because they didn’t want to take the risk. At the time, I didn’t break the rules either, maybe someone was watching, but now I know probably not. The visible cameras are an example of panopticism: they are understood as a tactic of surveillance while maintaining the power structure of administration over students. It works well enough. I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting cameras. I’ve also grown to understand that few of these cameras are in working order. They keep them up to maintain a visible concept of surveillance over students. I say concept because it is not real surveillance. The cameras represent surveillance but there is no legitimate surveilling.
Example number two: HOV lanes. I used to drive a car with one of those nifty electric vehicle stickers on it so I had the luxury of being able to drive in the HOV lane alone. That was until the end of October, when the stickers became meaningless and I now need another person to qualify for HOV access! My mom probably won’t like what I say next but in the name of Panopticon I’ll share it with you. I still drive in the HOV lane because who’s watching? Sometimes someone is watching, but I know my way around the I-5 well enough to know where they’ll be and avoid them. This is what I mean by panopticism will set you free. After I learned about Panopticon, I became more aware of how little people actually are watching. Knowing how common, albeit mostly fake, surveillance is might make you change your habits. If not, that’s ok too. Not everyone is ready for life on the edge.
Example number three: Elf on the Shelf and Santa. When I was a kid, I wished we had Christmas-level magnitude for Hanukkah. That being said, I never wished for Santa, much less Elf on the Shelf. Why do I want some random man to know when I’m eating or sleeping or doing anything? Why do I want some little kid to be REPORTING on me to said random man? That’s panopticism at its finest. When parents put an Elf on the Shelf out, it encourages kids to be good because the elf might be watching, and he reports straight to Santa. Emphasis on MIGHT be watching. The toy elf definitely isn’t watching, because it’s a toy, but as far as a kid knows that elf is like a direct camera to Santa. It’s the threat of surveillance that makes them behave.
Back to my car example. Why would you stop? Is it because it’s impossible to see infinitely? Is it because there could be a hidden cop? Is it because stopping on red is so engrained into society? If you knew no one would be injured, what would stop you? People I’ve asked are 50/50 on stopping/not stopping. Comment what you’d do. I feel required to say that this is not me encouraging criminal activity of any kind. My purpose is to provide power with knowledge. I think the Panopticon is exactly how power is structured in modern society. It can be applied to unlimited possibilities. I like to think that understanding is what Foucault would have wanted. If you really want to be like me, next time you do something you maybe shouldn’t because someone might see, do it (safely) and shout PANOPTICON!!!!
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