Foucault (French Philosopher) turned the idea that knowledge is power to an expansive idea that "power is knowledge." He believed that power has access to knowledge of many kinds. Foucault asserted that power and knowledge were so inseparable that he linked the two words together power/knowledge.
In his book Discipline and Punish (1975) he investigated punishment and separated it into 3 separate periods and forms:
1. Gruesome executions that was meted out by a centralized government and legitimized by the general population.
2. An abhorrence to previous eras of gruesome punishment, to the 19c of a transformation of use of power through technology. This new phase introduced punishment based on surveillance and discipline. Physical punishment was replaced according to Foucault with technologies of observation aimed at the mind rather than the body. Though less painful, it is deceitful as it proceeds inconspicuous and can be more intimidating. Foucault contends that social institutions rely of technologies of surveillance and is thus "taken-for-granted" as just part of the system.
3. Foucault's last phase of punishment is in a postmodern world that has advanced and developed new forms of power/knowledge through scientific discoveries, educational necessities for employment, psychotherapy, and pharmacology's that now generates new was of applications for power and control.
This explanation of Foucault's theory of surveillance as a means of punishments and control just needs a little bit of thought to grasp the significance of what he has asserted. Foucault was a modern man having died in 1985 at the age of 57. He saw the tip of our advanced technological times. It is necessary to look at the use of each new development in our day and ask yourself can this be used as a form of surveillance? And if so, who is doing the surveillance? And why? It all seems so harmless today. But will it remain so?
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