‘Literature, art and their respective producers do not exist independently of a complex institutional framework which authorises, enables, empowers and legitimises them. This framework must be incorporated into any analysis that pretends to provide a thorough understanding of cultural goods and practices.’
Randal Johnson in Walker & Chaplin (1999)
-interesting infinity of the last 2 lectures
-institutions and the physical presence they have within them - prison, army, police. Organised practices.
-designers make stuff and use inspiration, but really work within institution and produce work, which authorises what they do.
-Understanding culture helps this.
AIMS
- UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLES OF THE PANOPTICON
- UNDERSTAND MICHEL FOUCAULT’S CONCEPT OF ‘DISCIPLINARY SOCIETY’- CONSIDER THE IDEA THAT DISCIPLINARY SOCIETY IS A WAY OF MAKING INDIVIDUALS ‘PRODUCTIVE’ AND ‘USEFUL’
- UNDERSTAND FOUCAULT’S IDEA OF TECHNIQUES OF THE BODY AND ‘DOCILE’ BODIES
- discipline
- power
- torture
T h e P a n o p t i c o n
Michel Foucault
(1926-1984)
Madness & Civilisation -
Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison - emergence of prison as a institute
The lecture is based around these two books
THE GREAT CONFINEMENT
(late 1600's)
'Houses of correction’ to curb unemployment and idleness
- going back to middle ages there was no strict conception of madness. They tolerated this within the society, they were the fabric of society. There was no division of sane and insane.
- In 1600's a new sensibility emerged, a new attitude to work and the social value of work from the moral sense. Not only to make stuff for society but to make things better.
- people that were socially useless, that couldn't work or produce for society - they were a problem for society. Houses of correction were built - like a factory/prison. All the socially useless were put in these houses - drunkereds, criminals, diseased, single mothers, pregnant women, here they would be put to work and made to work, if they wouldn't they were beaten. This was to make people better.
The insane would corrupt the sane and it was seen as an error, so they built a specialist prison/house. It was like a hospital, but was called an asylum. This would house the insane and cure them. These institutions worked to correct the in mates by using more stubble techniques they were tactically treated like children, if they were well behaved and do what they were supposed to do they were rewarded, if not they were told off by a stern figure. They wanted to stubbily train people to be sane, by looking at how they respond.
- The emergence of forms of knowledge – biology, psychiatry, medicine, etc, legitimise the practices of hospitals, doctors, psychiatrists.
- Doctors were highly positioned at this time, because they were seen as an expert.
- Foucault aims to show how these forms of knowledge and rationalising institutions like the prison, the asylum, the hospital, the school, now affect human beings in such a way that they alter our consciousness and that they internalise our responsibility.
- This was the way in how they wanted to change the ways of the inmates - they would learn to behave how they wanted to because if they did they got reward and thats what they wanted. This way of working and training people worked and changed the in mates of the houses.
- Be spectacular and grizzly as possible, the discipline was seen as a high profile, if you were bad behaved or did bad things to the society then you would be discipled which is shown above. They knew what the punishiment was and it was publicly shown to the citizens, which made them think no to do it because they didn't want that treatment in front of everyone.
Punishment management.
The states power of how to punish them and this showed the citizens again on what would happen to them if they didnt follow the discipline.
DISCIPLINARY SOCIETY AND DISCIPLINARY POWER
Discipline is a ‘technology’ [aimed at] ‘how to keep someone under surveillance, how to control his conduct, his behaviour, his aptitudes, how to improve his performance, multiply his capacities, how to put him where he is most useful: that is discipline in my sense’ (Foucault,1981 in O’Farrrell 2005:102)
This worked around not having discipline as a punishment of something physical but be a mental punishment.
Known as Panopticisim
Known as Panopticisim is was named this because of the building Panopticon which was proposed in 1791 by Jeremy Benthanms.
It was designed as a multifunctional building - hospital, asylum, prison, etc
Located in Cuba
Design of the panopticon
Modern Panopticon - prison.
Can see the cells around the edge, each cell is open form the front, each cell has a window in the back to light it up from behind. Each cell has one individual. The cell is walled around every side except the front.
This has a mental effect on the individual inside it, it was the perfect institution because they are consistently staring into the middle, which holds a central tower with supervisors in it. The inmates can't see each other, just the constant presence of the guards in the middle. Which effect the inmates.
Opposite to the dungeon. Dungeon is where you hide and lock away the deviant classes, lock them away and forget about them, repress the demons.
Panoptican - light, everything is opposite to the dungeon. Object of scrutiny and observation
View from the cell, all you can see it the main tower in the middle. As you are constantly reminded by the supervision from the tower, you never behaviour in a bad way because you think you are always watched. If you rebel you will be spotted and caught out, so inmates are constantly put in line.
There is no one to look at and see there response. Internal physiology within yourself.
In every way this building works for every use it could be used for.
The Panopticon internalises in the individual the conscious state that he is always being watched.
PANOPTICISM
‘Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.’
(Foucault, 1975)
Some panopticans have blinds over the tower, so the inmates didnt know if there was guards in there or not, but it still makes them think they are constantly being watched. Eventually no staff are needed within it, because the inmates always think someone is there watching them, so they behave.
- Allows scrutiny
- Allows supervisor to experiment on subjects
- Aims to make them productive
- Reforms prisoners
- Helps treat patients
- Helps instruct schoolchildren
- Helps confine, but also study the insane
- Helps supervise workers
- Helps put beggars and idlers to work.
INSTITUTIONAL GAZE, within the panoptican. Within it they act up the ways of the institution, they behave in the way they think they want them to, without anyone forcing them to.
- The ‘panopticon’ is a model of how modern society organises its knowledge, its power, its surveillance of bodies and its ‘training’ of bodies.
- For it work, must understand that always under scrutiny and being watched all the time.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POWER, KNOWLEDGE AND THE BODY.
‘power relations have an immediate hold upon it [the body]; they invest it, mark it, train it, torture it, force it to carry out tasks, to perform ceremonies, to emit signs’ (Foucault 1975)
Open plan office, makes people want to share and get along as big gang. But really it was less social because they were always working and thinking someone is always watching you. Discipline yourself and make yourself do more work etc because you think you should be and not slacking off.
People in the office know there is a camera following them around and always being scrutinised. They start to think that they should work in a certain way because they are being watched and playing up to the camera.
Observation bubble in the middle of the classroom, watching the students from inside
Open plan bar, everything is visible and can see everything. You are always on display and can be watched by anyone in the bar. Bouncers, bar staff etc can see your behaviour and you dont want to be thrown out.
Closed areas, away from scrutiny, much more closed in and an area where you cant be watched so behave how you want.
Google maps - surveillance from above. Always being watched by someone, being able to look from street level and being able to look at houses and into the windows from a computer.
WE ARE ALWAYS BEING WATCHED - CCTV cameras
Every action in our life is being recorded - alters and changes our behaviour.
Educate and inform within a lecture. Wings within the lecture hall. In each seat has a barrier, so each student cant talk or see anyone else. They can only look forward and see the lecturer or teacher.
Arranged in the way they are to get the most from a lecture.
The lecturer can see what everyone is doing and can catch people out, people in the lecture are being controlled because of this, but you aren't forced to. You are expected to follow a code of behaviour.
Register is another form of surveillance, attend the classes because you have to sign the register and can't not do this, not because you want to go to it.
Being forced to learn in a certain way by having things laid out and different systems in place. Train people into these different ways, which is a form of discipline that it put in place mentally, by yourself. No teacher/person in power has forced it upon you.
Locked filing cabinets, contain info on each staff. When you see how much for each person is recorded, it makes you think that every action is recorded, so you think that you cant be caught out and conform to the behaviour of the institute.
Swipe in system to monitor the staff within the institute. No action is taken upon the use or no use of this system, but it makes you think that you should conform to the system and use it to make sure you are following the expectations of the institute.
Cameras within the institute, again recording what you have been doing.
IT office - they can open any networked desktop up on there computer to view anyones files etc. Every website is recorded, monitor the keystrokes on your keyboard within your computer.
Again surveillance of every staff and student within the institutes makes them know that they need to conform.
- A mental process that has a physical effect on our body.
- Self monitoring
- Self-correcting
- Obedient bodies
A soldier is a good example of this.
Foucault and Power
- Panopticism as a form of discipline
- Techniques of the body
- Docile Bodies
Disciplinary Techniques
“That the techniques of discipline and ‘gentle punishment’ have crossed the threshold from work to play shows how pervasive they have become within modern western societies”
“That the techniques of discipline and ‘gentle punishment’ have crossed the threshold from work to play shows how pervasive they have become within modern western societies”
(Danaher, Schirato & Webb 2000)
Cult of health - everything we eat and see about food, it always tell us about the health implications and what each food contains.
Images of what your body should look like and what you should of exercise wise.
- Everyone starts to act up to this gaze, because it is shown so much and read so much about it, you start to believe this and do it yourself.
- Gym - open plan, windows etc - show off your body, show that you have the perfect body and conforming to society.
Cult of the ideal body
The TV today shows many things through adverts, when watching these you are shown what they can could to you/effect your life and by seeing these over and over again, you take on the ideas of them and go do them/buy them. They are forcing you to do this without actually making you do it.
- His definition is not a top-down model as with Marxism
- power is not a thing or a capacity people have – it is a relation between different individuals and groups, and only exists when it is being exercised.
- the exercise of power relies on there being the capacity for power to be resisted
- ‘Where there is power there is resistance’
Constant panoptic system - try and defeat the state.
Social media interesting system, aware that everything you put up there is observed and monitored, everyone will see it and have a reaction to what you do.
This makes you behave in a different way.
Present in a different way to which you normally would, you can pay up to facebook and make a fake identity within a social media system. Everyone will believe what you put as it is from you, but you may not actually think/believe in that.
What to take away from the lecture:
- Michel Foucault - Panopticism as a form of discipline
- Techniques of the body
- Docile Bodies
Wow what a great blog, i really enjoyed reading this, good luck in your work. IT Berlin
ReplyDelete