I have chosen to look at the use of one-way glass as a modern panoptic example.
One-way glass is used widely in a number of institutions such as port of entry, casino’s and police stations. It is used in police stations in interview rooms to put suspects in a physiologically weaker position when being questioned. It is also used in casino to deter cheats and hustlers but I have chosen to focus in on the use of one-way glass in port of entries.
Usually one-way glass is used in the customs areas for example in airports to deter people from breaking import and export laws. When entering or leaving a country you are asked if you have anything to declare and have two options. You can either walk through ‘something to declare’ where you will be searched and examined, or you can walk through nothing to declare and face walking past a dark windowed office you cannot see into.
Using the one-way glass makes the people being viewed feel like they’re under omnipresent surveillance, “The Panopticon, on the other hand, has a role of amplification” (Foucault p87).
Even if they are not being watched or monitored the viewee is always under the fear of being caught and punished. “To induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assure the automatic functioning of power” (Foucault p82).
These systems are used to control and modify the behaviour of the public not by a present force but instead by themselves. “That this architectural apparatus should be a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it” (Foucault p82). This creates a role of self-regulation in the viewee.
The successful use of this system realise on the fear of the viewee being caught doing something which is prohibited. “ A real subjection is born mechanically from a fictitious relation.” (Foucault p83). This fear is implemented by higher powers but is often regulated by the viewed themselves.
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