We as people naively like to believe we are in control of our existence. That we have control over the clothes we wear, food we eat, where we live, jobs
we occupy, people we interact closely with, our time, and daily activities
(i.e. work, leisure/hobbies, and routines/ obligations). However, Foucault proposes
a challenging opposition to our naive standpoint. In his 1975 book “Discipline
and Punishment: The Birth of The Prison,” Foucault implied that the society we live
in is not as liberating as we perceive it to be, but more restrictive by a system of
varying institutional enforcements.
“Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison” is full of
intriguing concepts. One of the most interesting concepts Foucault theorized for
me was the cellular form of power that creates an infinitive and intangible
‘time table.’ Yet, it is not a new manifestation of the recent age the concept
of a ‘time table,’ a restraint of hierarchal design that has been around for
centuries. Systems of disciplinary guidelines uniquely formatted to appease the
conspirators and administrators’ desire to instill an inescapable oppression
that would make every individual within the all facets of a society to become
docile beings.
Everything we do in our lives is orchestrated by a hierarchical-imposed
control of activity and ‘time table.’ In many case we willingly participate in
this institution of oppression. Possible rationales for our acceptance
of society’s control could be we follow these restrictions and imposed
requirements for living in society because those are the ways we are taught
from our past elders. Or we accept the control of activity that occurs
constantly in our lives because we as people desperately crave orderliness,
boundaries, expectations, and denial of exploration of full consciousness with
our worldly existence.
Once upon a time we as a human race were all unregulated, we lived in communities that relied on each other for survival, we gained knowledge through experience, basic instinct, or natural skills and gave knowledge to others without bias. Greed, power, or time did not reign our existence nor was time conceived as control. The concept of time existed but the measure and restriction of time did not carry with it. That was all later tacked on with socially constructed canons dictating tentative life events, deadlines, that distract us from truly being aware and appreciating the encounters of living in-the moment experiences.
Foucault’s theory of a control of activity as I mentioned at the
beginning of the analytical entry is everywhere, happened all the time, in every
field of labor and operation within our society. Foucault best relates this to
being in a prison. Prisons of which we voluntarily enter from the day our
parents sealed our fate of a life filled with oppression by enrolling us in
educational system. This would be the first introduction of a life theme that
would re-immerge for the rest of our lives, the theme that the ‘time’ we
experience while within the any institutional facilities (i.e. school and job)
is no longer ‘our time.’
That ‘time’ within the confinement belongs to the instructor, owner, customer, and the tasks
required for us to fulfill our particular roles throughout our lifespans.
Countless hours, minutes, seconds of our lives are stolen from us with the end
game of becoming just another set of drones. From the education system and
through employment, the youth are transformed into conditioned commodities. To
reject their individualism, to be educated to the disciplined ways of the
society (i.e. routine gestures and body-object articulation) fueled by the
narcissistic hierarchy that remain the overlords of our society.
we occupy, people we interact closely with, our time, and daily activities
(i.e. work, leisure/hobbies, and routines/ obligations). However, Foucault proposes
a challenging opposition to our naive standpoint. In his 1975 book “Discipline
and Punishment: The Birth of The Prison,” Foucault implied that the society we live
in is not as liberating as we perceive it to be, but more restrictive by a system of
varying institutional enforcements.
“Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison” is full of
intriguing concepts. One of the most interesting concepts Foucault theorized for
me was the cellular form of power that creates an infinitive and intangible
‘time table.’ Yet, it is not a new manifestation of the recent age the concept
of a ‘time table,’ a restraint of hierarchal design that has been around for
centuries. Systems of disciplinary guidelines uniquely formatted to appease the
conspirators and administrators’ desire to instill an inescapable oppression
that would make every individual within the all facets of a society to become
docile beings.
Everything we do in our lives is orchestrated by a hierarchical-imposed
control of activity and ‘time table.’ In many case we willingly participate in
this institution of oppression. Possible rationales for our acceptance
of society’s control could be we follow these restrictions and imposed
requirements for living in society because those are the ways we are taught
from our past elders. Or we accept the control of activity that occurs
constantly in our lives because we as people desperately crave orderliness,
boundaries, expectations, and denial of exploration of full consciousness with
our worldly existence.
Once upon a time we as a human race were all unregulated, we lived in communities that relied on each other for survival, we gained knowledge through experience, basic instinct, or natural skills and gave knowledge to others without bias. Greed, power, or time did not reign our existence nor was time conceived as control. The concept of time existed but the measure and restriction of time did not carry with it. That was all later tacked on with socially constructed canons dictating tentative life events, deadlines, that distract us from truly being aware and appreciating the encounters of living in-the moment experiences.
Foucault’s theory of a control of activity as I mentioned at the
beginning of the analytical entry is everywhere, happened all the time, in every
field of labor and operation within our society. Foucault best relates this to
being in a prison. Prisons of which we voluntarily enter from the day our
parents sealed our fate of a life filled with oppression by enrolling us in
educational system. This would be the first introduction of a life theme that
would re-immerge for the rest of our lives, the theme that the ‘time’ we
experience while within the any institutional facilities (i.e. school and job)
is no longer ‘our time.’
That ‘time’ within the confinement belongs to the instructor, owner, customer, and the tasks
required for us to fulfill our particular roles throughout our lifespans.
Countless hours, minutes, seconds of our lives are stolen from us with the end
game of becoming just another set of drones. From the education system and
through employment, the youth are transformed into conditioned commodities. To
reject their individualism, to be educated to the disciplined ways of the
society (i.e. routine gestures and body-object articulation) fueled by the
narcissistic hierarchy that remain the overlords of our society.