When we go buy a bag of chips at the store, we are being watched to make sure we do not steal anything. When we are driving up state to visit family, cameras on the roads monitor us. When we go to a basketball game, we are watched by the powers that are in charge to make sure we are behaving appropriately in context of the event. Everywhere we go there is some sort of power watching down on us. This is a prime example of modern day panopticism. Michel Foucault originally devised panopticism, when he wrote about Jeremy Bentham's theoretically ideal institutional building, the Panopticon. Panopticism in itself is essentially a model of power, and the relationship of that power between individuals and groups. On a much larger scale, the government and NSA surveillance are a prime example of modern day panopticism as they have been invading Americans privacy by reading there text messages and listening to phone calls.
Michel Foucault gives his opinion on power and discipline in "Panopticism". He begins by explaining what measures were taken to control the plague, such as quarantine and forced separation. These forms of discipline used during the plagues have been the basis for much of the discipline that was evident during that time. From there, Foucault describes Jeremy Bentham's "Panopticon", a tower in the center of a room which has vision to every cell, generalized for prisoners. The ultimate discipline mechanism, the panopticon is simply a device to make discipline more efficient. All the prisoners can be seen without ever seeing. Furthermore, the panopticon exemplifies power and control because it minimizes the persons needed to operate and maximizes the persons that it watches over. Since a prisoner never knows when he is being watched, anybody has the power to operate the panopticon. The panopticon does not limit itself to prison cells, however. It can maximize potential in a hospital, school, and factory or wherever else discipline plays a role.
