Bentham
Bentham is a utilitarian theorist, believing human beings are intrinsically
bound to seek pleasure and avoid pain, and that "good"
and "bad" are defined by what is pleasurable and painful:
"Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign
masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point what we
ought to do, as well as to determine what we should do"
(Bentham 1789 par. 1.1)
If we believe that for every action of ours there will be a reaction from
others, our prevailing principle will be not to act in any way which
results in a negative or detrimental reaction from others towards us.
Applying this principle to crime, we could say that one would not commit an
offence likely to mean one suffered more pain for committing the act, than
the possible pleasure one might derive from it.
To secure desirable behaviour, and to deter undesirable, society might
respond to this theory by imposing the most stringent set of laws and
punishments possible. But this would not be a Benthamite solution. The
object of legislation, according to Bentham, should be to secure the
greatest happiness of the greatest number of people. The pain of punishment
should, therefore, be proportional to the happiness that it secured.
As a part of his vision of rational social control, Bentham devised an
architectural device he called the Panopticon, which is Greek for
"all-seeing".
The Panopticon was a
universal institution based on the
design for a Russian factory that minimised the number of supervisors
required, and proposed by Bentham for the design of prisons, workhouses,
mental asylums and schools. He, himself, attempted to construct a prison to
this design at Millbank in London
The underlying principle of Panopticon order is the total and constant
surveillance of inmates, workers, patients or pupils. But Bentham believed
this approach could be successfully adopted in any environment which
involved some level of supervision.
Bentham's design had a central watch tower encased in glass and furnished
with wooden blinds, which would be surrounded by a series of cells or
rooms. The idea was that the guard or overseer in the watch tower would be
able to monitor the every movement of the inhabitants of the cells, all of
the time, hence the 'all-seeing'.
A key to the effectiveness of the system is uncertainty. The design ensures
that the people watched cannot see their observers. They have no way to
find out if they are being watched at any given time, but they know that it
is the constant possibility. They have no area of privacy. Even if no one
is watching, they do not know it.
The psychological objective of such a system was that the subjects of
surveillance would believe that their only logical option was to conform.
Thus each individual would become their own overseer. The external illusion
of an all-seeing eye would become an inner reality of
self-policing.
If we link this to the 'pleasure-pain' principle, we see that the pain has
become, to a large extent, self-generated. The subject suffers a torment of
anxiety that his or her crime will be seen. Non-conformity means inner
pain, there is no profit to be gained from deviancy, and the path of
pleasure is the psychological security of knowing that you have done
nothing censurable.
We see here the difference between the utilitarian theory of human
behaviour, dominant in Britain and America, and the continental theories of
Rousseau,
Kant,
Hegel and
Durkheim that are
the main alternative to
utilitarian theory in European culture. The basis of the theories deriving
from Rousseau is that human beings have a will to act in the interest of
society: that the "general will" is our will as much as our individual
(selfish) "particular will". In fact, more than individual (selfish) will,
because it is the general will within us that makes us human. If the
general will within us was not the stronger, Hegel argued, we would require
a policeman on every corner. The Benthamite scheme highlights the truth of
Hegel's criticism, by requiring the police officer to be stationed in every
mind.
Foucault
Michel Foucault has taken
Bentham's
panopiticon is an "ideal" or
"architectural figure" of power in modern society. He argues that it is not
just a model for institutions, but something whose principles are the
principles of power in society at large:
"The Panopticon... must
be understood as a generalizable model of
functioning; a way of defining power relations in terms of the everyday
life of men... Bentham presents it as a particular institution, closed in
upon itself... But the Panopticon ... is the diagram of a mechanism of
power reduced to its ideal form; its functioning, abstracted from any
obstacle, resistance or friction, must be represented as a pure
architectural and optical system; it is in fact a figure of political
technology that may and must be detached from any specific use."
(page 205)
His description of the Panopticon is, therefore, a description of the
"architectural figure" of "all the mechanisms of power which ... are
disposed around the abnormal individual, to brand him and to alter him":
"We know the principle on which it was based: at the periphery, an annular
building; at the centre, a tower; this tower is pierced with wide windows
that open onto the inner side of the ring; the peripheric building is
divided into cells, each of which extends the whole width of the building;
they have two windows, one on the inside, corresponding to the windows of
the tower; the other, on the outside, allows the light to cross the cell
from one end to the other. All that is needed, then, is to place a
supervisor in a central tower and to shut up in each cell a madman, a
patient, a condemned man, a worker or a schoolboy. By the effect of
backlighting, one can observe from the tower, standing out precisely
against the light, the small captive shadows in the cells of the periphery.
They are like so many cages, so many small theatres, in which each actor is
alone, perfectly individualized and constantly visible. The panoptic
mechanism arranges spatial unities that make it possible to see constantly
and to recognize immediately. In short, it reverses the principle of the
dungeon; or rather of its three functions _ to enclose, to deprive of light
and to hide - it preserves only the first and eliminates the other two.
Full lighting and the eye of a supervisor capture better than darkness,
which ultimately protected. Visibility is a trap."
CCTV
Bentham believed that the principles of the Panopticon could be applied
within any sphere requiring some level of regulation, and, consciously or
not, we find the principles in modern day forms of surveillance, such as
closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Although technologically far
superior to surveillance in Bentham's time, the principle factors are
largely unchanged. The same objective remains prevalent today, to deter
people from offending through the constant threat of surveillance and the
repercussions of being caught on camera.
The architecture of modern shopping malls can be understood as
Panopticism. The shopping mall is a large open space with plenty of light,
and is designed in such a way to promote excellent visibility and safety.
Usually there are no small walkways. Floors are constructed on a gallery
design, so that anyone can view those below without having to change
floors.
Exposed elevators are often encased in glass. A prime example of the
Panoptic eye, as incidents in elevators would otherwise remain undetected
for some time due to the lack of visibility.
Consumer Panopticism is also part of modern shopping mall design - Although
the consumers may not be reflectively conscious of their participation.
Consumer Panopticism is the way in which shoppers survey and police one
another. Not only are the cameras and security staff watching you, the
shoppers also follow suit. This reaction is one that has become
internalised as an intrinsic part of our society.
Bibliography
Bentham, J. 1789 An Introduction to the Principles of Morals
and Legislation
Foucault, M. 1977 Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the
Prison