Essay Proposal

Proposed essay title/topic:

Panopticism in Contemporary Society: Policing & Surveillance.

Main issues addressed by your essay and the thrust of your argument:

- How & where the Panoptic model can be found within contemporary society.
- Surveillance as a form of monitoring, not protection & how society can be mislead.
- The impact of CCTV & speed cameras within modern society.
- Policing strategies & their impact on society.

Any visual material that you will look at:

- Pentonville Prison, Millbank Prison, Presido Modelo.
- 'The Office' sitcom
- Google Earth
- Bruce Nauman
- Vito Acconci
- Chris Burden

What theoretical approach/methodology will you use? e.g Marxism, gender analysis, the gaze etc:

Panopticism, Plato's allegory of The Cave, Simulation.

What specific theorists/writers will you refer to?:

Michel Foucault, Jeremy Bentham, Jean Baudrillard, Plato.

Five books/articles/resources already located (referenced using Havard):

Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison. London, Penguin.
Barker, P. (1998) Michel Foucault: An Introduction. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.
Danaher, F. Schirato, T. & Webb, J. (2000) Understanding Foucault. London, SAGE Publications.
O'Farrell. C (2005) Michel Foucault. London, SAGE Publications.
'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.
'Panopticism' in Hall, S. & Evans, J. (1998) Visual Culture a Reader. London, SAGE Publications.
Baudrillard, J. (1975) Simulacra & Simulation. Michigan, Michigan University Press.

SparkNote Editors. (n.d.). “Madness and Civilisation” at http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/madnessandciv/section2.rhtml (Accessed 13th March, 2010).

http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/ojs/index.php/journal/issue/archive

Hayles, N. (2009) 'Waking Up to the Surveillance Society' in Vol. 6, No. 3 at http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/ojs/index.php/journal/issue/view/Resistance (Accessed 13th March, 2010).

Billy Elliot (2000) Directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall, UK.