Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 400 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using not less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.
refer also to the lecture, 'Panopticism' (25 /10 /12), and the accompanying seminar.
Panopticism
A modern day example of panopticism would be in China. The censorship of information online regulated by the Golden Shield Projects" or the "Great Chinese Firewall", an extensive system aimed at controlling internet content. Authority control includes censoring search engines and blocking homepages. In addition, tens of thousands of internet police keep homepages and discussion forums under observation. This is intended to manipulate politically sensitive subjects for example the anniversary of Tioman square; around the anniversary date any search terms which relate to the event are systematically blocked or deleted, after the anniversary date the content is unblocked.
If you imagine knowing that somebody somewhere has the sole purpose and is employed to monitor people like yourself who surf the internet and filter and delete content that is sensitive which could even lead to your arrest you would feel vulnerable and would know if you post restricted content you could be imprisoned. This is a form of control and is a form of panopticism.
'Two ways of exercising power over men, of controlling their relationships, of separating out their dangerous mixtures. The plague stricken town, traversed throughout with hierarchy, surveillance, observation, writing; the town immobilized by the functioning of an extensive power that bears in a distinct way over all individual bodies - this is the utopia of the perfectly governed city.'
If you are on the internet you a fairly powerless but to accept that you are being monitored and unless you are computer savvy then the chances are you have to abide by the rules unless you are open to being arrested or cautioned.
'Sensitive material and unwanted web pages have shown a tendency to disappear and once a web discussion is moving in the wrong direction, internet police are bound to intervene with ideologically correct comments in order to manipulate conversation. The most extensive control, is, however, done through self-censorship. Some issues are best avoided in order to avoid trouble.':
http://www.hjalmarsonfoundation.se/2012/03/china-40-000-police-officers-monitor-the-internet/
China: 40.000 Police Officers Monitor the Internet
Just like a prisoner in a panopticon the internet user begins to self censor their work which is the most effective method of control and censorship persecution, which requires significantly less resources then an employed censor, blocking every individuals political sensitive posts bare in mind that China has the largest population online (300-400 million). It comes down to constant surveillance and not being able to hide (online), creating a paranoid, mentally insecure and self censored population.
'All that is needed, then is to place a supervisor in a central tower and to shut up in each cell a madman, a patient, a condemned man, a worker or a schoolboy. y the effect of back lighting (front screen lighting!), one can observe from the tower, standing out precisely against the light, the small captive shadows in the cells of the periphery. They are like so many cages, so many small theaters, in which each actor is alone, perfectly individualized and constantly visible.'
' 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. So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action; that the perfection of power should tend to render its actual exercise unnecessary'
I think whats scary is what this censorship is doing to the people of China. What effect is it actually having on the culture as a mass in everyday life. I wonder if people in China think about saying something amongst their friends, but just think, "no, I'm not saying that". In a real environment which is offline!
'The plague (internet freedom) is met by order; is to sort out every possible confusion: that of the evil, which is increased when fear and death overcome prohibitions. It lays down for each individual his place his body, his disease and his death, his well-being, by means of an omnipresent and omniscient power that subdivides itself in a regular, uninterrupted way even to the ultimate determination of the individual.'
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