Lecture 1

 

Key things:

- Michel Foucault

- Panopticism as a form of discipline 

- Techniques of the body

- Docile body

Recapping on the Foucault lecture:

- Surveillance + monitoring

- Power

- Disciplinary power

- Control

- Self - regulation, modifying behaviour 

- Power/Knowledge/Body

- Panopticism/panopticon (isolation, constant visibility)

*FOUCAULDIAN TERMINOLOGY *

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The idea that 'Power' is a relationship. Someone has something over someone else. A relationship between two parties, e.g in a seminar, there is the speaker and the audience, the speaker has the power

DOCILE BODY - easily controlled, takes instructions e.g soldier.

Foucault had his methods of creating a 'disciplinary society', without any physical contact e.g torture. Paranoia? Isolation? Self discipline through fear. 

TASK 1

Panopticism is a theory developed by philosopher Michel Foucault which focuses on the relationships between the body, power and knowledge. An example of how this theory could be expressed in modern society, is through exploring the system that operates at the front desk/reception at Leeds College of Art. 

Before you enter the main building, you have to swipe your card/identification in order for the main doors to open. This type of surveillance is "based on a system of permanent registration" (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000:61). Once you have swiped your appropriate card, you are officially registered into the building. 

However, exploring Foucault's theory and it's relationship with the college's method, we can see how the system is slightly panoptic. The glass doors before you enter enable the 'guards' at the front desk to see who you are, what you are doing and whether you have the accessable identification. According to Foucault, the idea of being watched, self-disciplines, we act and perform differently if we feel our every move is being observed. For strangers trying to access the college, "visibility is a trap" (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000:64), it gives those inside an authority, a reason to judge, therefore those behind the doors aim to impress. 

Before you enter the main building, you are considered a stranger, you have no authority, the doors become "the constant division between the normal and the abnormal" (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000:63). Perhaps the feeling that you are 'abnormal' disciplines you slightly, into creating the need to become 'normal'? You want the knowledge and power that gets you inside, being judged initiates this discipline, that keeps the system running successfully. 

In this case, I feel Foucault's theory does relate to this particular system. The 'guards' maintain a "perpetual victory that avoids any physical confrontation" (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000:66), due to the effective factors resulting in this method of disciplinary security. Strangers entering the college, become docile, they are easily controlled by the authority that sit inside, those who are "constantly centralized" (Foucault in Thomas, J, 2000:61). This manipulation into disciplining anyone who enters, not only maintains an order, a sense of control, but also secretively introduces hierarchy. You are controlled by someone, Foucault explores how, through power, knowledge and the body, it is effectively, yourself.