Skip to main content





In this Panopticon many people can be controlled by a single person, making power more economical and effective.

The Panopticon represents how discipline and punishment work in our current society. They are founded on examination and observation. If a ruler or government can control the mechanisms of examination and observation, they can effect control and discipline of the people.

This seemed very theoretical until he started comparing the Panopticon to institutions like prisons, hospitals, and schools. Comparing it to a prison I can understand, but a hospital or school?

This analogy clicked when I read this:

But the Panopticon was also a laboratory; it could be used as a machine to carry out experiments, to alter behaviour, to train or correct individuals. ... To teach different techniques simultaneously to the workers, to decide which is the best.

It reminds me of the A/B testing that companies use all the time to experiment on their users or customers. As we navigate the web, everything we do is monitored and recorded to be later studied. There isn’t one person or organization with complete control over the examination and observation, but in aggregate the business community does have complete control over these things, providing a strong foundation for control over our lives.

Are we living in the Panopticon now?


Comments powered by Disqus