Surveillance In The Military And The Panoptican Prison

Built in 1832, a structure known as the Panopticon was built to create a disciplined society. The Panopticon is a circular shaped building with a tower implanted right in the center that faces many prison cells. This tower gives the guards a great amount of power and strength that can control the inmates that are in the cells. The inmates could see the tower and knew that it was there but didn’t necessarily know who or what was watching them. In many ways, the Panopticon prison’s structure can relate to the military we have in present day in the form of surveillance, punishment, and lastly, discipline. The military and the Panoptican prison both have a way of surveillance on inmates and soldiers. Surveillance is a great tool but can easily

Without punishment there would be no point of surveillance because people will not respect anything if there is no consequences. Both in the military and the Panoptican prison had some strict rules to follow, and if they weren’t followed consequences happened. In boot camp recruits must follow the rules. If an individual is not the whole squad will pay the price not just that individual. Yelling, getting dropped (pushups), Recycling (sent to different unit that is in the earlier part of boot camp than your current), and getting kicked out are some ways of punishment in boot camp. With all the different types of punishments basic training in military has been successful and many learn from what’s right and what’s wrong.The Panoptican used its design for a way of punishment. “To return to the problem of legal, the prison with all the corrective technology at its disposal is to be resituated at the point where the codified power to punish turns into a disciplinary power to observe”(Foucault 13) In other words the Panoptican prison didn’t really have much of a punishment. Its intimidating watch tower was enough to make all the inmates fear, however, if stuff did get out of hand punishments with the law were

Although they are similar in a few ways, the Panoptican from the seventeenth century and the military we have today are both discipline but deal with the concept in different ways. How did the Panoptican prison dealt with discipline? According to Foucault the prison used the design of the building to basically teach discipline (Foucault 7). In other words the design of the Panoptican intimidated the inmates to behave and cooperate because they never knew who was watching which could cause them some punishment. In the military, referred by a soldier himself, discipline is defined as a “state of order and obedience” (Definition of discipline). Specifically saying that in the military soldiers receive instructions on the values and the importance of following orders. Military discipline is seen more as a positive performance such as obeying orders policies and regulations, maintaining their physical fitness, being accountable for their actions and treating everyone with respect. So how is the military using discipline to make recruits be strong men and women to defend our