PANOPTICON;

OR

THE INSPECTION-HOUSE:

CONTAINING
THE

IDEA OF A NEW PRINCIPLE
OF CONSTRUCTION

APPLICABLE
TO

ANY SORT
OF ESTABLISHMENT, IN WHICH PERSONS OF

ANY DESCRIPTION
ARE TO BE KEPT UNDER INSPECTION;

AND
IN PARTICULAR TO

PENITENTIARY-HOUSES,

PRISONS,
HOUSES OF INDUSTRY, WORK-HOUSES, POOR-HOUSES, LAZARETTOS, MANUFACTORIES, HOSPITALS,
MAD-HOUSES, AND SCHOOLS:

WITH

A PLAN OF MANAGEMENT

ADAPTED
TO THE PRINCIPLE:

IN A SERIES OF LETTERS,

WRITTEN
IN THE YEAR 1787, FROM CRECHEFF IN WHITE

RUSSIA.
TO A FRIEND IN ENGLAND

BY JEREMY BENTHAM,

OF LINCOLN’S
INN, ESQUIRE.

Have you ever wondered if there might be some hidden purpose in Homeland Security measures that have all the homies under seemingly constant surveilance yet seem never to search out the hidden dangers they claim to protect us from? This 1787 classic text may have more to say about contemporary life than the age of it would suggest.

Source: Bentham,
Jeremy The Panopticon
Writings. Ed. Miran Bozovic (London: Verso, 1995). p. 29-95

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