The concept of the panoptic gaze came into being during the industrial revolution partly because the factories necessitated a workforce. This workforce had to receive physical check-ups, had to be made flexible, and had to be trained in a specific manner required for factory work, all under the watchful, panoptic gaze. Training, in general began to take on a new dimension; it no longer consisted of finding the right people who just happen to suit the right criteria, but instead it focused on recruiting ordinary people, training and orienting them to fit the necessary criteria. The military, for example, underwent this new approach in the modern era. While pre-modern military would look for men, initially strong, physically fit, and courageous, modern military did not necessarily recruit men who looked like ‘typical’ soldiers to begin with. Rather, the focus was shifted from men actually looking like soldiers, to actually behaving like ones. For this reason, a meticulous and especially magnified type of training was required. Hard and particular training was required, because those who did not conform to the ideal of how a soldier should behave were punished.
References:
Lowman, J. (1987) Transcarceration: Essays in the Sociology of Social Control . Cambridge: Avebury.
Michel F. (1977) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Book.
Google Images, (2009). Retrieved July 9, 2009, from Google Image Search Web site: http://images.google.com.lb/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi
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