Panopticism Essay. random notes things to discuss and bits ive written to pad out!

Panopsism and Advertising.

· Facebook advertising. Monitoring what people look at and what they respond to.

· Email advertising…. Subscribing to newsletters.

· Certain tv chanels reach certain audiences.

· They can see what you are like and what you like without directly speaking to you or you actually buying anything!

Papanopticism is a theory originally developed by French philosopher Michel Foucault, he theorised upon the idea of society and surveillance. The fascination we as a society seems to have developed with the idea of constantly monitoring people, whether it be monitoring there progress or their whereabouts, down to what they do and say. Even In relation to the advertising world; what and how they promote ideas and products. He theorises points suggesting the idea of how being watched or even just the feeling of being watched effects our behaviour. He uses the example of how the rehabilitation process so well succeeds in a prison system because the prisoners have this constant feeling of "big brother" watching over them all the time, therefore this discourages bad behaviour through fear. big brother and his ever watching eye seems to be a ominous presence in society whether we like it or not, the question i keep asking my self that just doesn't seem to settle with me is "am i ok with this?", do i, like the rest of society, care that our privacy could be, and lets face it, is being intruded at every opportunity? i get the feeling i should care a hole lot more than i do, but i really don't. There are major benefits to being under its watchful eye; crime, safety, documentation. so for the slight uncomfortable moment i feel when thinking im being watched, id rather that then not ever being seen?! English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham designed a building that embodies all the principles and theories behind the idea of panopticism; the panopticon. The structure behind the idea and design is to allow an observer (prison guard in this case) to observe all the prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell whether they are being watched.