Panopticon as Metaphor

As we talked about in class, the panopticon was a progressively efficient but also dehumanizing prison design created by Jeremy Bentham that was seen by him as a rational, efficient way to organize prisons. Like we discussed in class, the basic design is a hollow circular building with cells at the periphery that open toward the center and a single raised guard tower in the center of the cells. This design allowed one guard to theoretically see any cell at any time, though the prisoners would not know if they were being watched. Bentham saw this rational design as the sort of reform that could help society, but others saw the dehumanization caused by the possibility of constant observation as cruel.

The image of the panopticon and the thought of being constantly observed has made it ripe for metaphor and comparisons. Michel Foucault, the French postmodernist philosopher, used it to illustrate his idea that knowledge and power were closely linked, as the guard who can see the prisoners has knowledge, and thus, power over the prisoners. (I might not be really accurately portraying this argument as I just read an article about it and Foucault can be confusing but I tried). Also, as Mrs. King said, some would compare the recent rise of cameras everywhere and constant observation we are living in a sort of panopticon of modern technology as we are all almost always being observed in public. It's definitely an interesting metaphor that makes you consider the effect of observation (which sort of goes back to the gaze of existentialism) on our behavior.