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Panopticism - Papers

Panopticism

“Our society is not one of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface of images, one invests bodies in depth; behind the great abstraction of exchange, there continues the meticulous concrete training of useful forces; the circuits of communication are the supports of an accumulation and a centralization of knowledge; the play of signs defines the anchorages of power; it is not that the beautiful totality of the individual is amputated, repressed, altered by our social order, it is rather that the individual is carefully fabricated in it, according to a whole technique of forces and bodies. (pp.333-34)”
In the essay, , by Michel Focault, he makes the argument that we live in a ...

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to the basic argument concerning the panopticon, that communication is key to knowledge. Within the panopticon, there is no communication among the prisoners or those who view them. This becomes another aspect of power; it underlies the main idea of separation and communication as a form of shaping forces in the panopticon.
The first phrase in the passage testifies to the basic structure of our society. The goal for our society is “to procure for a small number, or even for a single individual, the instantaneous view of a great multitude” (333, Focault). The purpose of such a society is so that relations between the individual and the state can be better controlled. That the “infinitely small of political power”(331, Focault) who run the state can watch the many citizens. It must be acknowledged that to view each citizen is not simply to watch them, but to exercise the power that surveillance entails.
“And unlike the methods of judicial or administrative writing, what was ...

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Panopticism. (2004, January 22). Retrieved January 11, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Panopticism/1836

"Panopticism." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 22 Jan. 2004. Web. 11 Jan. 2026. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Panopticism/1836>

"Panopticism." Essayworld.com. January 22, 2004. Accessed January 11, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Panopticism/1836.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 1/22/2004 01:22:24 AM
Category: English
Type: Free Paper
Words: 1237
Pages: 5

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