Panopticism In Modern Society

Ever since the idea of the Panopticon came to light, the idea of watching people without being seen has been widely used in modern society. For example, “the spread of disciplinary procedures,” that Foucault describes, which is, “not in the form of enclosed institutions, but as centers of observation disseminated throughout society,” can be seen from the National Security Agency to society itself, making it seem as though the idea of Panopticism is being used on the population every day (Foucault 196). In Foucault’s section about Panopticism in his book Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, he states that the idea of the Panopticon could not only work in a prison, but could work in a psychiatric facility, hospital, school, or factory.
The auditions occur throughout the first semester of every year and are open to all high school students. During the Texas All-State Choir auditions, individual singers are taken from a large holding room with all the students who have not auditioned, to a small holding room with other singers. From the small holding rooms, which are monitored by volunteers, the individual singer is led to the room they compete in. The individual singer never hears any other singers when they compete, and if they do, the holding room will be moved. For example, my senior year of high school, I was one of the first competitors. In the holding room while one of the first competitors was singing, we discovered that we could faintly hear the other singer. Although she was singing a different part, they moved the holding room farther
Although a majority of singers I knew found this as an anxiety, I never did. For me, the curtain was a blessing because I could not see how the judges reacted. Due to this, I took the “power” upon myself. The only way to lessen the constraint of their power is to not acknowledge they are even there. One way to practice this that my choir director always told us to use was to stand in the shower with the curtain drawn to practice. Not only can you hear yourself better in the bathroom, but the curtain stimulates you just like the curtain in the audition room. She would tell us that we could set up stuffed animals, pets, siblings, parents, or other object or people that could simulate the judges, just outside the curtain. Being able to practice the mental overthrow of the judges on the other side of the curtain typically helped calm the curtain anxiety some students had.
But, regardless of what was on the other side, you never truly knew what was there. Like in the Panopticon, the singers know the judges should be there, but not if they are truly there. Which is similar to the prisoners who knew the guards should be there, but did not know if they truly were there. But similar to the singers, and unlike the Panopticon, the judges cannot see what is on the other side. Although the judges never view the singer, they observe the