In his book “Discipline & Punish” Foucault famously describes his concept of the ‘Panopticon’ prison. The cells are build in a big circle, in the middle of which sit the prison guard. The guards can observe the inmates at all time, but the inmates cannot see when they are being looked at. This “induces in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.” The prisoner does not need to be actually be observed anymore, because the awareness that he is possibly being observed automatically exercises a disciplining power on him. In this post, I will discuss the transformative power that social media can effectuate when it acts as a panopticon. Does society become like the disciplined prisoner, when each transgression is possibly being recorded?
We have seen numerous examples in the recent years where people capture abuses with their phones (often hiddingly). When published online, this can draw the attention of thousands of people. In some cases, this has led to the perpetrators being brought before justice. Several NGO’s such as Witness and Videre have used video recording equipment to document human rights abuses. They put a strong emphasis on bringing about social change. Witness’ motto is “See it. Film it Change it.” Videre’s founder stated in a TED video that the video’s, most importantly, are not broadcasted to the world, but to the abusers themselves. Then they know that they are being watched, “their impunity is broken.”
Whereas the notion of citizen journalists still requires the ‘journalists’ to be present and to have the right equipment, this is rapidly changing in the modern day. Already in 2005 Jamais Cascio coined the term ‘Participatory Panopticon‘. He wrote that the idea of a Big Brother will be relatively meaningless as it will be “overwhelmed by the millions of cameras and recorders in the hands of millions of Little Brothers and Little Sisters. We will carry with us the tools of our own transparency, and many, perhaps most, will do so willingly, even happily.” People will observe each other constantly, surveillance will happen from below, sousveillance.
What could this mean for racism? Previously a camera could bring a single individual to court for violating the law. In an age where camera’s are omnipresent and where every person can turn into a reporter, one does not know when one is being watched. The mere though that someone could be watching, already induces a disciplinary power. This could have profound effects on the offline world. For example, during a job interview there might be a hidden camera filming everything – possibly damaging the companies reputation if any discrimination would occur. Also a policeman knows that, even when no one else is around, he might still be watched.
The participatory panopticon has turned us all into the prison guards and the inmates at the same time. It has blurred the lines between private and public, online and offline. It might well bring about the end of public misbehaviour.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1VpOweDio8&feature=youtu.be [/youtube]
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