Foucault's Theory Of Punishment Analysis

This essay consists of the concepts of punishment and discipline, given by Michel Foucault. It also consists of the critic of his theory. Michel Foucault was a French philosopher and a historian. He was involved in the structural and post-structural movement. He also has had a strong influence on the humanistic and scientific display. Foucault began his analysis by studying the history of the punishment. In the eighteenth century, the criminals were publicly executed, they were also tortured and killed. The punishment was seen as a ceremony on the criminal’s body. And this type of rituals needed an audience. The public execution was a means of restabilising the king’s power. Many types of reforms and punishments was used in the eighteenth century,

So he came up with a modern model of punishment. He emphasised on reforms through effective control, where there was less punishment but better punishment. He thought that torturing and killing of the criminals can be substituted by imprisoning them. He argued that the entire control of the society can be brought about through this new mode of imprisonment. These techniques where used by institution for different purposes, this gave rise to the notion of the modern disciplinary power.
Foucault’s theory modern disciplinary society consists of three elements- hierarchical observation, normalizing judgment, and the examination. Foucault explains that controlling the society could be done by observing people constantly. He refers to Jeremy Bentham’s concept of panopticon, for example, in a class room the rows of seats makes it easy for the teacher who is the spectator to observe the students and to maintain discipline in the class. He also says it is easier to maintain discipline then the observers keep changing, in hierarchically order. For

A prison where each inmate has one cell, they are separated from one another. But each inmate is visible to a monitor in the central building. They are not monitored always, but the point is that they can be whenever it is necessary. It keeps the inmates in their best behaviours as they think that they are being watched constantly. For example: the CCTV cameras installed in all the public places, the fact that we are being watched by someone makes us conscious and makes one try to behaviour in a better manner. The idea of prison is developed from the idea of