Discipline and Time essays

Discipline and Time essays "Hierarchized continuous and functional surveillance may not be one of the great technical inventions' of the eighteenth century," according to Foucault, but institutional surveillance nonetheless expresses a social, economic, and political need of a capitalist society (176). Discipline operates as a power structure and functions as a social technology. Discipline finds expression through various social institutions, from the military to the factory, to the school. The purpose of discipline and training is not necessarily to create a unified mass out of a collection of individuals but to individuate the means of production according to the needs of the manufacturer or capitalist. As a relatively simple structure, the disciplinary hierarchy nevertheless implies the means of social, Discipline, like any mechanical or physical technology, is designed to transform the natural world. As such, discipline functions as a transformer of the human will. The individual worker, military officer, or student is subordinated to the superior officer or trainer or teacher in order for the society as a whole to function according to capitalist means and ends. This type of discipline is accomplished through continual and pervasive surveillance, not necessarily via cameras or videotape but through an organized social and professional hierarchy. For instance, at the factory, the supervisors keep close eyes on the workers. At school, the administration and teachers keep their eyes on the students. At military camps, prevailing officers keep tabs on their junior officers. These surveillance mechanisms serve a social function as well as a practical one: the do not merely maintain law and order in a society. Rather, surveillance and discipline permit the creation of a class-oriented capitalist society. The time-clock preceded and also accompanied the advent of the ...