Foucault's "Panopticon"

Foucault writes about the connection between power and knowledge in his novel Discipline and Punish and also describes the "panopticon" and its relation to discipline and power. "The formation of knowledge and the increase of power regularly reinforce another in a circular process" (306) meaning that with power comes knowledge and with knowledge comes power.  Power and knowledge relate to discipline in a way that, by dividing up our knowledge into disciplines, we are essentially distributing power by distributing knowledge. By distributing knowledge (and essentially knowledge) they can educate the public and produce more productive members of society. This way, there is no one person in power because power is being distributed; it is not a property or attribute of any one person (unlike a monarch, etc.) and therefore, society itself is responsible for power and each other. The panopticon is used as a vehicle of power because it allows visibility. The panopticon is a building where all cells can be seen at all times, ensuring power since visibility is a way of defining power.  The panopticon was meant to develop and improve the economy by spreading education and bettering public morality.