Amble Hollenhorst

Dr. De Vries

ENGL 5870

21 April 2009

Commentary #7

Our society is the panopticon, each individual is both a captive and an observer. We have no king, no guard that we can distinguish. Indeed, as we have been self-regulating for so long, we no longer need one. This panopticon affects the way we interact in every facet of society. Aware that everything we do is being seen by someone, we make specific choices about how we dress, how we speak, who we interact with, how we interact with different people, etc. What constrains us is not the reality of what people think of us, but rather what, through cultural ideology, we believe people think of us. In this way we begin to regulate ourselves. As Foucault states, “He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection” (9).

Couple this with a capitalist ideal of individualism and any sense of community is compromised. Success and failure are both individual markers. Do what is expected, or someone else will take your place in the classroom, at the office, in the community. If you fail to comply with the standard, you will find yourself in even further isolation, relegated to the very fringe of society. This ideology of individualism created in society not only a social autonomy but also a political autonomy, which was nurtured by capitalism, and vise versa. All of these forces, panopticism, autonomy and a shared cultural ideology, nurture and perpetuate each other, so that “The growth of a capitalist economy gave rise to the specific modality of disciplinary power whose general formulas, techniques of submitting forces and bodies, in short, ‘political anatomy’, could be operated in the most diverse political regimes, apparatuses or institutions” (38), without a need for the use of force.

Unlike a real panopticon with its walls and windows, the panopticon that controls society is metaphorical, and therefore literally invisible. This makes it all that much more complete in its application for we are prone to forget the metaphor. We know that we are being watched, and we grow complacent in that fact. We do not group together to change our situation because we tell ourselves that we are individuals and must rise and fall against that model. It is therefore much more difficult to recognize our situation and affect change, for change requires grouping, and grouping is in opposition to the panopticon. The very thing that insulates us from conflict prevents us from change. Thus, the metaphorical panopticon that is our society is safe and secure, and what change that comes will come slowly, and only at the behest of the entire society.