FAQ About Michel Foucault

The concept of 'Panopticism' comes from Foucault's study of surveillance and disciplinary mechanisms in modern society, detailed in “Discipline and Punish”. He uses the metaphor of the Panopticon, a type of prison designed by Jeremy Bentham, to illustrate how visibility and observation are used as tools of power and control. In such a structure, inmates are constantly observable, inducing a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power. This concept demonstrates how surveillance operates as a form of control in society.