Michel Foucault

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Michel Foucault

• The Means of Correct Training
• From Discipline and Punish The Birth of the
  Prison (1975)

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Discipline makes individuals...

• ...by means of
• Hierarchical observation (surveillance)
• Normalizing judgment
• Examination

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1. Hierarchical observation
Jeremy Benthams blueprint for the Panopticon
prison (1791)
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Panopticon
The concept of the design is to allow an observer
to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners
without the prisoners being able to tell if they
are being observed or not, thus conveying a
"sentiment of an invisible omniscience".
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(No Transcript)
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2. Normalizing judgment

• At the heart of all disciplinary systems
  functions a small penal mechanism (193).
• It punishes non-conformity, that which does not
  measure up to the rule, that departs from it
  (194).

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3. Examination

• The examination combines hierarchical observation
  and normalizing judgment in one procedure.

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Tests and exams measure...

• School performance
• Specific knowledge or skills (driving
  professional certification, etc.)
• Intelligence (I.Q., or Intelligence Quotient)
• Personality characteristics (Minnesota
  Multiphasic Personality Test)
• Interests (academic, professional, etc.)

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Exam results mapped on a normal distribution curve