Subjectivity and Surveillance

Louis Althusser was a French structuralist philosopher. His conception about ideology is that it does not act independently and predictably.  Rather, it works in a collaborative way with individuals to actually produce subjectivity.

 This means that the visuals we see become choices, through interpellation, for the formation of identity, creating our own conception of who we are or determining how we feel about others.  Our subjectivity is formed in collaboration with the ideas and images of our time.

Nicholas Mirzoeff points out that one of the consequences of our visual world is that as viewing subjects we are always already aware that we are viewed subjects.  Therefore vision and power are linked.
"I am seen and I see that I am seen."  This is the mantra he equates with the power structure of "disciplinary" society.  We are being watched, or we feel we are watched so often, that we conform to the standards of behavior condoned within our specific society.

The Panopticon, a structure meant for effective regulation of behavior in prison, was developed by Jeremy Bentham at the end of the 18th century.

The building would allow for one guard in one tower to see into every cell but would not be seen in turn by the prisoners.

This arrangement would create a sense in the prisoners that they were always been watched, even when no guard was present.


















For philosopher Michel Foucault, this structure was a template for a conception of Modern society.  Modernity is marked by the "internalization of the inspecting gaze," creating citizens who likewise internalize their knowledge of the powers (institutions, laws, frameworks) that regulate their lives and freedoms.

Think of all of the modern devices used for surveillance and the number of places we find them or expect to find them.

 

In pre-modern times, the means of power were what Foucault called "spectacular."  This means that power was shown through a series of spectacles- riches, rites, symbolic ornamentation, vast expenditures of wealth, public executions, and other types of warnings about the powers that be.

  

One way we can see the power of the visual changing, is that in some ways the power structures of old had power and money behind the visual.

What happens when money is more or less detached from the visual?  Can anyone with the ability to capture visual information try to wrest power from its traditional place?  While this is only one facet of a complicated issue, is it possible to ask if we are arriving at new possibilities?

In the news: Video by 17 year of police using excessive force