Foucault begins with the system of measures taken against the plague in the 17th century: partitioning of space, continuous inspection, and registration. Plague could be stopped with order. He also discusses how Lepers were excluded from society in an attempt to create a pure/utopian society. The technique of supervising and determining the abnormal people in society today comes from the plague. Disciplinary techniques are used as a methods of control over "abnormal" people.
Foucault brings in Jeremy Bentham's panopticon, an architectural and metaphorical structure where "visibility is a trap." This leads to the development disciplinary society as a "society of surveillance" rather than the antiquity society of spectacle. The notion of always being observed is internalized and one conforms to "norm" and is "policed" by their own mind. For example, SnapChat has a feature where you can anonymously track your friends' locations on a map at anytime- creating a permanent visibility. You can see what they are doing according to their bitmoji's- like driving a car, playing golf or sleeping.
I really liked how you used the concept of “registration” in your understanding of Michel Foucault’s presentation of the panopticon. I think a key in his theory from my understanding as well as the understanding of grouping as a way of control, in this specific sense grouping to the effect of registering people by specific attributes or for the means of tracking and control. The specific word of registration didn’t initially come to my mind when thinking through the theories of Michel Foucault but now I can see how this resonates with the overall presentation of his theory.
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting how Foucault, places his theories in the narrative example of the plague and how separation and supervision are a way to stop the spreading of disease. I can connect this to my understanding rhizome that Mark Poster describes the idea of spreading and sharing things, ideology can be viewed similarly as well. But this concept of compartmentalizing ideas and grouping people as a way of silencing or stiffening is really interesting and frightening.
I liked your connection of the SnapChat map that the app provides where you can literally see where all your friends are and what they’re doing. Something I’ve always found a little unnerving. But the idea of policing yourself via SnapChat, if you have your location services turned on you must be aware that you could be watched at any point in your day by whomever you have on your account. This could, in turn, affect people’s actions and the places in which they go.