This week's readings reminded me very much of the movie "The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)." The movie explores life in East Berlin under the GDR regime and the secret surveillance (i.e. through tapping into phone lines) over specific individuals who were under suspiscion of not supporting the German "Democratic" Republic. The power was in the hands and eyes of the Stasi (the political police) and the people of East Berlin lived in fear that they were being watched if they knew they had ever acted against, or spoken words that were not supportive of the GDR. Like a panopticon, the people being watched feel powerless.
According to Foucault, the feeling of suspecting, but not knowing one is being watched not only distinguishes power between those watching (who have the power) and those being watched, but also instills fear and works a disciplinary effect on those in the limelight. He uses the example of a Panopticon; a circual prison where cells are visible from a central surveillance station.
Bibliography
Foucault, M 1977, ‘Panopticism’ in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, translated by Alan Sheridan, Penguin, London, pp 195-228
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