The Panopticon and Contemporary American Society

I found Michel Foucault’s example of the panoptic prison system, in which all cells are theoretically watched by a central power, to be of interest in our contemporary society, especially one preoccupied with the fear of a random, foreign terrorist attack. In discussing various penal systems, Foucault gives the example of an omniscient authority of which a person is incapable of avoiding. In discussing the boys disciplinary school at Mettray, Foucault says: “the entire parapenal institution, which is created in order not to be a prison, culminates in the cell, on the walls of which are written in black letters: ‘God sees you’” (1637). This omniscient watcher is central to the panoptic society in which people obey authority with the assumption that someone may see their transgressions, and thus be subject to punishment. (A variation of the ‘God sees you’ is repeated in the U.S., or at the very least in Denver County, in which prisoners are locked in jail with only a blanket and a King James Version of the Bible.) The panoptic society of contemporary times can also be seen in the constant surveillance of public life through cameras. Today there are cameras everywhere, including stores, buses, and most public areas. There is even an industry built on surveillance. Concerned mothers buy “nanny-cams.” A year ago I mistakenly received a catalogue of spy equipment meant for my next-door neighbor, the self-described vice-president of the Martin Acres Neighborhood Association, who had a sign above his garage warning of a camera in use. Needless to say, it was an uncomfortable situation, especially since he talked to me from time to time about my comings and goings. (Warning: he still lives in Martin Acres.) Foucault’s discussion of the panoptic society is especially important today in the current “War on Terror.” Shortly after September 11, the government instituted new methods for preventing a new terrorist attack. Today American citizens are encouraged to look for possible terror suspects, especially when the terror litmus test gains color. Not too long ago I remember a government official encouraging citizens to look for suspicious men taking pictures of American landmarks, which, according to him, was only the groundwork for another planned attack. Of course this does not make sense because most, if not all, tourists take pictures of American landmarks. I suppose any tourist who looked Arab must have had some difficulties that week.

What is most fascinating in Foucault’s article is his illustration of the counter productivity of the panoptic society. Foucault says: “In this panoptic society of which incarceration is the omnipresent armature, the delinquent is not outside the law; he is, from the outset, in the law, at the very heart of the law, or at least in the midst of those mechanisms that transfer the individual imperceptibly from discipline to the law, from deviation to offense. Although it is true that prison punishes delinquency, delinquency is for the most part produced in and by an incarceration which, ultimately, prison perpetuates in its turn” (1642). The United States has the highest prison population of any industrialized nation. The prison system, which is theoretically intended to reform criminals, does not work. Americans are so preoccupied with punishing “criminals” that they fail to realize that the system is actually harming society. Drug laws were reformed under Reagan and, instead of winning the “war on drugs,” the prison populations escalated to astronomical numbers, with drugs readily available in prison! The penal system is not a cure for drug addiction or a solution to the drug problem. However, it is productive in producing more “criminals.” Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox.