Modern panopticon : a disciplinary-control society

• Main Author: Tan, Alvina
• Other Authors: Li Chenyang
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73551
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Surveillance is a growing issue today, especially so with the growth of technology and the unlimited opportunities for individuals to interact. It is used to achieve bigger societal goals such as order and stability. Through surveillance, Bentham introduced the concept of Panopticon as both physical and metaphorical structure of a utopian society. Foucault expanded and further applied this concept to create a Discipline-Society. Contrary to popular beliefs (influenced by Foucault), Bentham’s vision was not to create a society where people would be watched all the time; rather, discipline would be internalized and the need for the surveillance itself would eventually be exhausted. However, in the 1990s, Deleuze rejected Foucault’s concept of a disciplinary society. Instead, he proposes that the society shifted and is now characterized by what he coins as a “Control-society”. While the concept of a “Control-society” has merits, I believe that many of the characteristics of a Panopticon are still relevant. In fact, it is possible that we have come to a mid-point of the spectrum – from a “Disciplinary society” to a “Control-society” to what seems like a marriage between both, forming a “Discipline-Control society”.