panopticon
A term first used by 18th-century English philosopher Jeremy *Bentham in his notion of an ‘inspection house’ model for institutions in which surveillance was an essential function: these included asylums, prisons, and workhouses. In the panopticon an inspection tower was at the centre of a circle of single, open cells. The inmates were therefore under constant surveillance, though not always aware of by whom, and when, they were being watched. Bentham conceived of a situation in which the dynamic of surveillance itself pervaded the panopticon, so that in its most developed form the surveillance might not need the actual presence of an inspector: seeing the inspection tower itself could effect the necessary control. Bentham's notion was taken up and developed by ... ...
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