Focus on Foucault

This week I re-read Panopticism by Foucault and I found a number of similarities in his discussion of "general discipline" and the topic of my research paper. Thus, I have decided to use this chapter in Discipline and Punishment as my main comparative view point. I will talk about the ways in which the members of the group watch each other and essentially socially discipline each other, both explicitly and implicitly. For example, if one of the group members does something that is unacceptable to the majority of the group, they will be passively aggressively disciplined into never doing it again. I will look at the different techniques we use to discipline and how this effects the general discourse of the group.

I will also look at the ways in which this constant social surveillance effects, and to an extent alters, the ways in which we behave in the group. Knowing that we are constantly being watched by one another, we have learned to censor ourselves depending on who is listening and what is being said. Essentially, we have learned what is appropriate and what is not just from being around one another. This has also altered the ways in which we interact with each other, especially if we don't like someone in the group. Instead of saying how we really feel (uncensored) to someone, we would rather just grin and bear it because of the group situation. If you tell someone how you really feel and it is perceived as negative, you face the consequences of that decision anytime you see that person; you face awkwardness, which you'd rather avoid by pretending.

I've realized that this might be an extreme comparison. After all, I am not suggesting that we are living in a prison, but I feel that many of the points Foucault makes can be compared to a number of social situations, not just prisons, asylums and schools. I will mainly be focusing on the social aspects of group dynamics and isolation from the group, the ways we project personalities even if they may be false representations, and the idea that "visibility is a trap".