Panopticon Vs Foucault

a perfect husband/wife, or a tons of cash. They show us what they believe society wants, and they use our insecurities and desires to make us want to get it. That’s how they use their power over us. Foucault, even more so than Bordo, comes right out and says where power comes from: the panopticon (at least the idea of it), the system that sees all but isn’t seen. It doesn’t have to be a single person or a physical entity, all it has to be is the notion/concept that we’re always being watched: “… in order to be exercised, this power had to be given the instrument of permanent, exhaustive, omnipresent surveillance, capable of making all visible, as long as it could itself remain invisible” (345). Although Foucault specifically uses the prison as the main focal point of …show more content…
We’re practically always being watched in one way or another, it could be through social media, being in public, school, etc. This dictates our behavior whether we realize it or not, but who benefits from that? Is it for our own benefit, so we don’t act foolishly, or is it part of a bigger picture? In Susan Griffin’s essay the big bad system/institution was the Third Reich. This wasn’t something that only wanted us to buy things or made us act civil in public. It played upon people’s fears, made them fearful for their lives, then they turned their fears towards their children. In some cases it made people feel superior and at least in Himmler’s case he