Panopticism, impartial spectator and digital technology

Abstract

Adam Smith, algorithms, Michel Foucault, search engines, subjugation * This article is part of a collection of papers on Lockdown and being: space, place and movement, with guest editors Gregory Swer and Helen-Mary Cawood Introduction Michel Foucault's analysis of the development of the disciplinary society in the 18th and 19th centuries accentuates an important link between power as a function of discipline and surveillance and capitalism. Conversely, in this article the analysis of Foucault's panopticism is followed from the perspective of Brunon-Ernst (2012) and Laval (2012) who argue that Bentham and Foucault share similar theories of power because there is a deeper complexity in the panopticon that Foucault's panopticism misses, although panopticism and Foucault's theory of liberalism draws on Bentham's utilitarian liberal thinking (Brunon-Ernst, 2012). [...]the same criticism of panopticism by Foucault as a form of subjection or sociocultural control can also be directed at Smith's impartial spectator because, in both cases, sociocultural norms, values and approbation are the basis for behaviour change (e.g. social determinism). [...]power should be guided by the principle of visibility and verifiability (Foucault, 1991).