Focault And The Mass Media

3 Pages 842 Words

Foucault and Mass Media

When people hear the words “mass media”, most of them think of it as
medium of communication that is designed to reach the mass of the people
(Webster’s). What happens when this communication reaches the masses?
This is were many of us recieve the information we live our everyday lives by.
Many of us our often influenced by these soures and this can be related to
Michel Foucault’s ideas he displays in his essay Panopticism.
The mass media has a strong power over our society. Power is one
thing that Foucault mentions time and time again in his essay. At one point
when Foucault is discussing the idea of power he mentions the Panopticon.
The Panopticon was a prison in which the inmates were always being watched,
but never knew when or who was watching them. Due to this the prisoner
becomes his own supervisor. He now pays more attention in everything he
does for the fear of what may happen if his actual supervisor sees him. This
idea of Foucaults Panopticon can be almost directly related to the mass
media. Think about some forms of mass media (such as Tabloids, for
example) they have become a form of Panopticon because that it is
constantly watching society for sign a of deviance. With the threat of
punishment by annoucing people’s wrong doings to the masses can be
particularly threatening to those in public life. Just like what happened
between our President and Monica Lewinsky. One result of knowing this, is
the concentration on our own behavior when we are out in the public.
Media can be many things we see/hear everyday, such as billboards,
radio, movies, clothing, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. One of the
most influental forms of media today is televsion. Many facts about
television and our everyday lives have been released by TV-Free America:
The average American watches 4 hours of TV each day.
99% of all homes in the U.S. have television s...