Foucault and Punishment Essay - 1172 Words

Change over time; that is a common theme with everything in the world. The concept of punishment is no different in that regard. In the 16th and 17th century the common view for punishing people was retaliation from the king and to be done in the town square. In what seemed to be all of a sudden, there was a change in human thinking, the concept of punishment changed to a more psychological approach compared to a public embarrassment/torture approach. The following paragraphs will discuss the development of prisons and what in fact gives people gives people the right to punish; as well as the overall meaning and function of prisons. The work by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison will help with the arguments†¦show more content†¦The public spectacle went as far as chain-gangs until that was abolished in 1848 (Foucault 8). The reason for this change, according to Foucault, was due to the overwhelming thought of humanization that developed in soci ety. How did this change to a humanization thinking come about and more importantly how was it implemented into the penal system? Foucault accredits the evolution to the humanization process of thinking based on how people portrayed the executioner. What that means is the overwhelming sense of savagery that was bestowed into the people by the fact that the punishment had ‘out-done’ the crime itself. â€Å"It was as if the punishment was thought to equal, if not exceed, in savagery the crime itself, to accustom the spectators to a ferocity from which wished to divert them†¦to make the executioner resemble a criminal, judges murderers, to reverse roles at the last moment, to make the tortured criminal an object of pity or admiration† (Foucault 9). The perception by the people in seeing how criminals were dealt with was the turning point and the leading factor to the eventual development of prisons. With the development of prisons, this changed how punishment a nd torture was viewed, at least in the public eye. The act of torturing, however unfortunate, comes naturally in regards to punishment. A big reason to why torture is no longer heard about in the prisons is because torture is now done the private spectrum instead of inShow MoreRelatedFoucault s Discipline And Punishment1211 Words   |  5 Pagesmovements linked to the Enlightenment, which transformed society into the modern culture seen today. Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish examines how punishment was viewed and enacted prior to the â€Å"humane† awakening of the eighteenth century, while establishing the progression of change that shifted punishment from the body to the soul. Foucault was a student and professor of philosophy and psychology during the twentieth century, which influenced his writings and political activism. DisciplineRead MoreMichel Foucault s Theory Of Discipline And Punishment1225 Words   |  5 PagesMichel Foucault states in Discipline a nd Punishment that â€Å"the Panopticon is a marvelous machine which, whatever use one may wish to put it to, produces homogeneous effects of power† (Foucault 188). Examining the evolution, physical characteristics, and psychological effects of the Panopticon allows one to understand the mechanism by which the Panopticon produces power. Most inventions develop through an evolutionary process while attempting to improve a situation or solve a problem. Often, aRead MoreSystem And Oppression Of The Panopticon1631 Words   |  7 Pages2.3.2. Panoptical System and Oppression The Panopticon was a metaphor that allowed Foucault to show the relationship between the people in a disciplinary situation and the systems of social control. From his view, the concept of power/knowledge comes from observing others. Michel Foucault is one of the European philosopher/historian who wrote prodigiously and influentially on the origins or ‘archaeology’ of European social orders since the seventeenth century. For understanding of his work on socialRead MoreOne Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest Relation to Foucaults Argument1602 Words   |  7 Pagesrelates to Foucault’s analysis of discipline and punishment. Foucault’s argument is that power works in a disciplinary way in current society. The movie can relate to this because the institution that the movie took place in was ran using Foucault’s disciplinary technique. There are many scenes from the film that give an analysis of Foucault’s argument. Foucault believes that people have the power to punish the docile bodies that they produce. Foucault argues in â€Å"The Carceral† that, â€Å"The least actRead MoreDiscipline And Punish : The Birth Of The Prison1345 Words   |  6 PagesMichel Foucault- Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison Michel Foucault is a very famous French intellectual who practiced the knowledge of sociology. Foucault analyzed how knowledge related to social structures, in particular the concept of punishment within the penal system. His theory through, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, is a detailed outline of the disciplinary society; in which organizes populations, their relations to power formations, and the corresponding conceptionsRead MoreSimilarities Between Michel Foucault s Punish And Discipline And Nellie Bly s Ten Days1495 Words   |  6 Pagesjustice system; his temperament, punctuality, knowledge and authority remained unchecked. He investigated suspects, formed judgment and prescribed punishment (Foucault 19). In particular, an investigation established the suspect’s involvement in an act. The judge studied its results and diagnosed guilt. Then he prosecuted according to the law (Foucault 19). Although he controlled the justice system, the judge lacked author ity in alternative areas of society. His influence remained unchanged untilRead MoreFoucault once stated, â€Å"Our society is one not of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface800 Words   |  4 PagesFoucault once stated, â€Å"Our society is one not of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface of images, one invests† (301). By this, he means that our society is full of constant supervision that is not easily seen nor displayed. In his essay, Panopticism, Foucault goes into detail about the different disciplinary societies and how surveillance has become a big part of our lives today. He explains how the disciplinary mechanisms have dramatically changed in comparison to the middle ages. FoucaultRead MorePublic Torture Vs. Penal System1030 Words   |  5 PagesCount: 1,032 Public Torture vs. Penal System In Michel Foucault’s Discipline Punish, he starts out by describing a gruesome, public execution. Foucault questions why this man is getting tortured and punished this way. He later goes on to compare this event with prison rules 80 years after the execution and, throughout his book, argues which punishment is a better choice. Prison is more effective than public torture because it contains criminals properly, rather than humiliating them in public.Read MoreEssay on The Utopia of Orwell and Foucault1368 Words   |  6 PagesOrwell and Foucault â€Å"Two ways of exercising power over men, of controlling their relations, of separating out their dangerous mixtures. The plague stricken town, transversed throughout with hierarchy, surveillance, observation, writing; the town immobilized by the functioning of an extensive power that bears in a distinct way over all individual bodies-this is the utopia of the perfectly governed city† (Foucault, 6) This quote extracted from the Essay Panopticism written by Michel Foucault perfectlyRead MoreEssay about Analysis of Discipline and Punish1609 Words   |  7 Pageswork, Foucault establishes the trend of using power as a sort of political technology over the human body. According to Foucault, power relations transcend every facet of society, and are not simply localized in those relations between citizens and the government. Power must be aligned closely with the concept of knowledge. Basically, there is no power relation without a sort of constitution of knowledge, or any sort of knowledge not inferring to or allowing for power relations (Foucault, 27).