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May 17, 2006 Meeting Notes
I. Book/Media Discussion – 6:00 – 6:10
o Discipline and Punish, Foucault, Michel
Foucault performs an historical
analysis, called a genealogy, of the penal system that portrays it
as a system of control with the goal of marginalizing the criminal
population so they cannot become a threat to the power structure. As such, he sees such institutions as means by which the powerful
exercise control over society.
o Madness and Civilization, Foucault, Michel
Considered a landmark in
20th century philosophy, this genealogy of the treatment of mental
illness raises some unsettling issues about what the real reason is
for how mental illness is dealt with and whether we are as enlightened
as a cursory read of history would tell us.
o Michel Foucault, A Short Introduction
A summary of Foucault’s main
ideas.
o People accept too much loss of privacy without question.
o What can we do?
o Surveillance can come from anyone, not just the government.
o Bank transactions are closely tracked. Withdrawals, deposits, check cashing are all recorded. If the amount is over 5k, special reporting is required.
o Consider the latest law which requires pharmacies to record a lot of information about customer’s who purchase over the counter drugs such as cough syrup because it contains a chemical which can be used to manufacture a powerful drug.
o We seem to have lost a lot of freedoms in the name of the “War on Terror”, the “War on Drugs”, and other metaphorical names for what the government wants to frighten us with.
o Jails are filled with many people who are not a danger to society. If someone wants to take drugs, let them as long as they don’t infringe on other’s rights. Throughout much of history and in many countries, allowing drug use has not caused increased drug use nor more violent crimes.
o We must respect human rights in US and abroad.
o What about TV cameras being used to observe and convict such as in traffic cases? The human observer is removed so there is no critical evaluation. The person is assumed guilty but the picture may be misleading. There may be extenuation circumstances, etc. This is a problem with surveillance in general, it assumes guilt. For example, Joe purchases a book about TNT and leave it lying out where a neighbor sees it. Later, the neighbor sees a crate marked explosives and hears Joe talk on the phone about the need for serious action to send a message to those in power. The neighbor notifies the authorities who come and seeing all this arrests Joe. It turns out, the book was purchased for a chemistry class Joe was taking. The crate is empty as was given to him by a friend who works in road construction. It was being used to store books. The discussion overheard was a call to write letters to congressmen. Like a sitcom episode, it can all get misunderstood.
o From Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to locator chips implanted under a person’s skin, privacy is disappearing. Example: the movie Minority Report.
o Cell phones let people contact us wherever and whenever we are.
o Profiling is attacked as being wrong but when the characteristics of a person match the most likely of perpetrators of crimes, does it makes sense to ignore this and do a strip search of a ninety year old grandmother while letting the young middle eastern man walk by unchecked?
o What about identity theft? It seems to go along with all this. People can use information tracked, to take over you ID and do things in your name.
o Just use PeopleFinder on the web and you see just how easy it is to acquire information about other people.
o Given the advancements in technology, is there any way to stop the erosion of privacy? Generally, people felt there was no way to stop it but how it could be used was a matter on concern.
Relevance
of the topic
o Recent articles
such as US News and World Report
o CVS and over the counter drug purchases and a new law for information
gathering
o Patriot Act
o Tracking: Credit transactions and the buyer cards
o Email and the Internet
o Cameras,
Cameras, everywhere.
o Security
coming and going.
o Employer monitoring
of employees
o Cell phones and
GPS
o Reality TV brings it all
home
o What is not being watched?
A
Lesson from De Tocqueville
Inferences from Foucault – Food for
thought
o The Panopticon
and the ideal of surveillance
– Establish the means
– Make
it known
o Selling the Panopticon
–
– Disney
has extensive surveillance throughout its parks and for good reason. They monitor everything going in and intervene before things get out
of hand. This keeps guests happy and protects Disney’s image. Could the government attempt the same approach for society in general? For example, they see someone about to commit a crime and intervene
before it happens. Rather than punish, perhaps they help the person
and turn them around. This would be a great way to sell complete
surveillance to the public, a Dinseytopia for the rest of us – but
is it really a good idea?
o Divide
and Conquer – Control and/or Marginalize
– History of punishment and its harshness
– Institutions as a manifestation of power and control
o Penal system defines a model which has been applied to many other
institutions of power:
o hospital,
schools, military, corporations
o Control the body through control of the mind, psychologizing through
discipline.
o Segmenting Desired
from Undesired Behavior – Normal and Abnormal
– The humanitarian approach to the rescue
o Let us treat your illness
o Seeing
it from the Normal Curve Viewpoint
- Measures and Controls
§ Meeting the norm
o Who controls
the labels?
- Power/Knowledge
and Self Knowledge
o We are the
objects of study, the subject
- Is there anywhere that they cannot probe?
Questions to consider:
A Day in the Life