Power is
usually defined as the ability to achieve a desired outcome, i.e.
to do something. The concept of power is normally defined of by
the legislature in a rational sense, having power over others.
There are three dimensions of power: decision making power,
non-decision-making power and power as thought control (Buse et al
2005). Foucaults view on power is one which extends across several
different sites; gender, race and sexuality. Observing power in
contemporary society as disciplinary incorporates hierarchical
observation, normalizing judgement, and examination to measure
every individuals deviation from a societal norm. For Foucault
power in contemporary society manifests itself on an individual
level characterized by the techniques of bio and disciplinary
power, in a
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Foucault noted
development in the nature of punishment, a change in the content of
punishment and he also noted a wider change taking place in the
context of widespread social order. As aforementioned, Foucault
noticed a development in the nature of punishment, this is
underlined by his understanding that punishment passed on from
torture to imprisonment. The shift in the content of punishment is
symbolized by Benthams vision of a
panopticonbecause its an example where prisoners are aware
they are unsure whether they are always under surveillance and
spend the day duly in their cells; isolation is torture of the
soul, and lastly Foucault also notes a broader change in the
social order, (1997, pp. 216-217.) Mathiesen argued that, the
movement towards the panoptical form was not only a characteristic
feature of the modern
prison. A new
kind of society was implied in the transformation (p. 217). The
change in social order being exemplified by the
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