Balance And The Panopticon

We live in a world where people are judged by their first impression. One can never truly behave how one wants to. Power helps regulate the actions of individuals, so that they do not become punished. If people are abnormal then they are separated from others. But the definition of abnormal varies around the world. Yet, who exactly is making us disciplined? There are some figures that we can and cannot see. It could obviously be the authorities, but it can also be a child near us that limits our conduct. But the discipline does not have to feel restricting, it can be good. It helps a society advance, and it helps each and every one of us. Other nations are at a different levels of advancement, one reason is that there has to be a balance and
“The Panopticon is a marvellous machine which, whatever use one may wish to put it to, produces homogenous effects of power” (Foucault 202). When people are observed constantly they develop discipline, and most dare to not violate any rules. Nearly everywhere we go, we are being observed, especially at work, schools, banks, or hospitals. We are expected to act and look a certain way depending on our location. Dressing up in an inappropriate way at specific places is punishable. These concepts forms a disciplined society, if prisoners did not think they are being watched they would attempt to escape. It would be similarly the same case for some students at schools, they know they are being watched and cannot leave class or bully a fellow student in the hallway. Almost all of society we have today spends most of their time in factories, schools, and hospitals, etc. It is a good way to control a
It is not surprising that our society this institution as an instrument of penalty. “They were expected to neutralize dangers, to fix useless or disturbed populations, to avoid the inconvenience of over-large assemblies …” (Foucault 210). They are used to remove unwanted behaviors and individuals from a population. When you remove those types of individuals, you move society forward. If there are less bad influences, people will likely not break the laws. Especially children, if they are not exposed to bad behavior, they grow up disciplined and the next generation becomes better. Foucault goes on to state, “’Discipline’ may be identified neither with an institution nor with an apparatus; it is a type of power, a modality for its exercise, compromising a whole set of instruments, techniques, procedures, levels of application, targets …” (215). Mechanisms of discipline do not have to be an institution. For example, a leader may tell a village to behave a certain way or view a particular aspect from the leader’s perspective. If the village does not follow the leader’s instructions, they will be punished. The level of fear can be involved, and from who the orders are coming from. One is more likely to follow instructions from someone who can control some part of one’s