Rubbersoul, Foucault

"This enclosed, segmented space, observed at every point, in which the individuals are inserted in a fixed place, in which the slightest movements are supervised, in which all events are recorded, in which an uninterrupted work of writing links the centre and periphery, in which power is exercised without division, according to a continuous hierarchical figure, in which each individual is constantly located, examined and distributed among the living beings, the sick and the dead--all this constitutes a compact model of the disciplinary mechanism." (95) Foucault describes what it was like at the end of the 17th century when the plague entered a town and the process by which the town dealt with ridding it. Essentially, people were forced to stay in their houses and if they left the town limits they were sentenced to death. Those in charge make all the decisions for the citizens, from what they can own to what characterizes them and even to deciding the circumstances in which they die. "The relation of each individual to his disease and to his death passes through the representatives of power, the registration they make of it, the decisions they take on it." Foucault describes the surveyer of the disciplinary mechanism as an omnipresent and omnicient power. He goes on to explain a structure called a Panopticon. It is a tall tower positioned in the middle of a concentrated area. The tower has large windows on all sides and the corresponding cells around the tower have windows facing the tower as well. The light crosses the cells so the watchmen in the tower can see if the captives in their cages are being obedient. "The panoptic mechanism arranges spatial unities that make it possible to see constantly and to recognize immediately." The abnormal is separated from the normal and kept under control through a method of constant supervision. Punishment results when actions aren't approved by the watching eye.