--------To understand in terms of ?who is watching who? in Michel Foucault?s essay ?Panopticism?, we look at a few different aspects from his work: the plague, techniques and institutions for measuring/supervising people deemed as ?abnormal?, and how this relates towards today?s society.
]--------Looking at the way we see how Foucault talks about the plague, where people are constantly inspected and closed off from the rest of the world. We may see this as inhuman, but a necessary evil that was needed to be put in play. People were sick, infested with a disease that could have been spread simply by having contact with another human being. These people were seen as ?unfit? to remain with the rest of society. They were confined to their own space away from everyone else, the ?norm?. This is just another way of saying that no matter what you are doing, you are being watched.
]--------Just like the plague, an idea called the ?panopticon? was also a way in which the abnormal can be seen. The only difference is, this time the observer doesn?t have to let anyone know that they are being watched. These people that were being watched could have been anyone ranging from: workers, school children, laborers, inmates, and people from all walks of life. A genius idea really, one institution for almost all sources of information, for both learning and punishment, however: ?But the Panopticon must not be understood as a dream building: it is the diagram of a mechanism of one power reduced to its ideal form; its functioning, abstracted from any obstacle, resistance or friction, must be represented as a pure architectural and optical system: it is in fact a figure of political technology that may and must be detached from any specific use.? (Foucault 223) This basically said that if people believe in this system, it will take all of their freedoms, ranging from privacy to individualism, away.
]--------But as society becomes more and more complex, there seems to be a need for not just one institution, but many more. Instead of just a Panopticism device that would watch over a select group of people. We need more establishments it seems, from schools, factories, psychiatric institutions, and hospitals. Now, the ?abnormal? group of people seem to have been separated from the rest of society once again. However, in time we will demand more establishments, possibly eventually do away with establishments all together and have each individual become the observer to everyone else. So no matter where you go, you will always be watched. How far is to far?
Slowly taking away people?s freedoms has always been an issue with modern society, from limiting free speech to forcing children to attend school. Some freedoms can and should be limited to certain aspects, but everyday we are becoming closer to becoming a communist society. However, on the other end of the coin, you have the anarchistic side of things, giving people basically the freedom to do whatever they want. But even when a society makes certain freedoms/laws available to the public, some are not protected. An example would be that of segregation and persecution of African Americans, even though it was outlawed many years ago, it is still happening today.
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