One point in Panopticism

One point that Michel Foucault presents in “Panopticism” is the concept of the Pantipcon building which allowed observance to be a powerful tool. The design of the Pantipcon allowed everything to be observable from the watchtower. Those who were being observed could not contact others. With no contact between them, there is no chance for disorder. The power is distributed evenly within the society, anybody can become the observer. This concept was different from the popular norm of the king having all the power. Just knowing that you were being observed functioned better than using violence. The idea of the Pantipcon allowed for the emergence of using reform rather than making prisoners a spectacle. The Pantipcon concept creates efficiency; it is this efficiency that makes the Pantipcon concept easy to be applied to many disciplines. This is supported by Foucault’s statement, “Is it surprising that prisons resemble factories, schools, barracks, hospitals which all resemble prisons?”