Our contemporary liberal society is often viewed and evaluated as a superior form of human civilization—one of which that offers the upmost freedom to its civilians. Regardless, it is important to explore this notion of freedom and dig deeply to see just how “free” our contemporary liberal society actually is. In his book Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault offers a critique of the modern liberal society and helps to expose the truth behind the ever-present illusion of freedom. According to Foucault, an individual is disciplined and punished in society in three different aspects: by hierarchical observation, normalized judgements, and strict examination. By Foucault’s examination of these aspects of disciplinary power, he concludes that
…show more content…
In Discipline and Punish, Foucault outlines the civilized transformation between a penal society designed around deterrence to that of one that treats the criminal as an actual human being that is malleable and can become rational agents of society if punished through non-torturous means. The image of barbaric punishment is reestablished in Franz Kafka’s The Penal Colony, where the “Traveler,” a character who analogously represents consciousness of a more civilized society, is appalled by the treatment and torture of the “condemned man” (Kafka). This image contrasts majorly to the criminal justice system that is set in most contemporary liberal societies; in American society, the justice system even ensures that there are defenses against such aforementioned injustices, such as our right to a proper trial and a right to know what one is being accused of (which was not the case in Kafka’s Penal Colony). The modern disciplinary system, Foucault notes, is rehabilitative in theory and is “intended not to punish to offence, but to supervise the individual, to neutralize his dangerous state of mind” (Foucault, 59). This thought, however, begs the question of whether or not our contemporary liberal system of punishment is disciplinary or punitive in nature, the latter of which would suggest that we reside in a world where power is acted upon us and not granted to …show more content…
In Panopticon, “the individual is constantly located, examined and distributed among the living beings” (Foucault, 573). The main tower in Panopticon is intended to mirror the main institutional power of modern societies, which is usually the government. In this prison model, the individuals are aware that they are being watched and monitored, but they are unaware of the extent of the supervision. Control in Bentham’s Panopticon is centered around the value of transparency, which is also a present principle in modern social institutions, such as governments, schools, prisons, and hospitals. Following this principle, it can be argued that the individual is simply a construction of power in relation to societal norms, proving that contemporary liberal societies and means of discipline are cleverly—and somewhat
In Discipline and Punish, Foucault outlines the civilized transformation between a penal society designed around deterrence to that of one that treats the criminal as an actual human being that is malleable and can become rational agents of society if punished through non-torturous means. The image of barbaric punishment is reestablished in Franz Kafka’s The Penal Colony, where the “Traveler,” a character who analogously represents consciousness of a more civilized society, is appalled by the treatment and torture of the “condemned man” (Kafka). This image contrasts majorly to the criminal justice system that is set in most contemporary liberal societies; in American society, the justice system even ensures that there are defenses against such aforementioned injustices, such as our right to a proper trial and a right to know what one is being accused of (which was not the case in Kafka’s Penal Colony). The modern disciplinary system, Foucault notes, is rehabilitative in theory and is “intended not to punish to offence, but to supervise the individual, to neutralize his dangerous state of mind” (Foucault, 59). This thought, however, begs the question of whether or not our contemporary liberal system of punishment is disciplinary or punitive in nature, the latter of which would suggest that we reside in a world where power is acted upon us and not granted to …show more content…
In Panopticon, “the individual is constantly located, examined and distributed among the living beings” (Foucault, 573). The main tower in Panopticon is intended to mirror the main institutional power of modern societies, which is usually the government. In this prison model, the individuals are aware that they are being watched and monitored, but they are unaware of the extent of the supervision. Control in Bentham’s Panopticon is centered around the value of transparency, which is also a present principle in modern social institutions, such as governments, schools, prisons, and hospitals. Following this principle, it can be argued that the individual is simply a construction of power in relation to societal norms, proving that contemporary liberal societies and means of discipline are cleverly—and somewhat