The panopticon as metaphor

Contemporary social critics often assert that technology has allowed for the deployment of panoptic structures invisibly throughout society.Surveillance by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in public spaces is an example of a technology that brings the gaze of a superior into the daily lives of the populace. Furthermore, a number of cities in England (UK), including Middlesbrough, Bristol, Brighton and London have recently added loudspeakers to a number of their existing CCTV cameras. They can transmit the voice of a camera supervisor to issue audible messages to the public.^[8][9] Similarly, critical analyses of internet practice have suggested that the internet allows for a panopticon form of observation.^[10] ISPs are able to track users' activities, while user-generated content means that daily social activity may be recorded and broadcast online.^[11]

Shoshana Zuboff used the metaphor of the panopticon in her 1988 book In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power to describe how computer technology makes work more visible. In 1991 Mohammad Kowsar used the metaphor in the title of his book "The Critical Panopticon: Essays in the Theatre and Contemporary Aesthetics" (American University Studies Series Xxvi Theatre Arts). Earlier,Michel Foucault used the term more generally as a metaphor in describing Western society