A central tower looks down upon the hundreds of cells cintriculary surrounding it, as a watchful eye oversees every move and position of each inmate. Although the watch guard has the capability to observe each inmate, those watched do not have the same luxury, as the unique design of the panopticon does not allow the inmate access to this same knowledge. Thus, the potential for continuous surveillance makes for obedient prisoners. Foucault sees the penopticon as a means of "inducing in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power" (Foucault, 201), using it as a metaphor to describe how people internalize social discipline on themselves because they are under continual observation. The penoptic society within one's episteme allows for total surveillance, thus creating an intense fear of the "watcher" by the "watched.".
Foucault applies the panopticon's significance to the societal conditions within a paradigm. Living within a panoptic society destroys the Enlightenment's ultimate ideal of the autonomous self. One whom is under absolute surveillance must conform to the pleasing of the "watcher." The Iatmul natives are found performing lost traditional rituals for the westerners pleasing. It is ironic to note that, European missionaries destroyed these traditional practices as they found them "uncivil," yet, it is these westerners coming through villages today, in search of an "authentic" piece of native culture. At the same time that the native people slowly lose their autonomy to western modernity, they gain power over the affluent tourists. They gaze into the mysterious ways of the foreigners, absorbing and solidifying learned knowledge, all while westerners gawk obliviously at their "watchers." It is a vicious penoptic society, in which neither side is aware, yet it is the camera lens which obtains the role of ultimate surveillance.