The Modern Penal System s Creation And Continuity

In Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault is concerned with state systems of punishment, providing a historical analysis of the modern penal system’s creation and continuity. He initially addresses the notion that prison-based penal systems are progressive and more humane than ever before, directly juxtaposing the experiences those publicly gruesomely tortured and those privately incarcerated. However, he acknowledges this dichotomy only to immediately flip it on its head, arguing that public torture touches the criminal’s body while incarceration aims to direct the criminal’s soul. In fact, he asserts that social progress is only a guise for the true, sinister underpinnings of the modern prison system. This, then, begs the question: how†¦show more content†¦As such, knowledge has influenced power relations between the inmate and the prison. So, power has brought about a new knowledge, and knowledge has brought about a new type of power. Foucault describ es this as a nexus of power and knowledge , in which the two terms â€Å"reinforce one another in a circular process† (p. 224). Power leads to knowledge and knowledge leads to power, and power-knowledge reproduces itself; therefore, power-knowledge is an unending cyclical force. While the power/knowledge nexus is observable in formalized institutions such as prisons, Foucault generalizes it, explaining that it describes human power relations in all settings. In order to do so, he draws upon Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon, which he characterizes as a distilled, â€Å"ideal† representation of power structures in society (p. 205). The panopticon is, at its core, a ring-shaped tower surrounded by cells that windows on each side (the side of the cell toward the central tower and the side of the cell toward the outside world). â€Å"By the effect of backlighting,† the panopticon ensures that inmates cannot see a supervisor or guard in the central tower, but can th emselves be watched (p. 200). Because prisoners do not know if they are being watched at any moment, visibility becomes a â€Å"trap†; the fear of being observed outweighs the motivation to do wrong (p. 200). In the panopticon, the observation of inmates stimulates theShow MoreRelatedThe Economic And Social Structures Of India Pakistan Since The Moghuls2342 Words   |  10 PagesCertain positive impacts of colonialism translated into the abolition of slavery, legalizing the remarriage of widows and the denouncement of sati and introduction of a penal code that introduced some ideas of equality. 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