A panopticon is an architectural design proposed for a prison which consists of a central watch tower surrounded by cells. The idea here, is that a “watcher” can observe any given cell, but the prisoners cannot observe the watcher. This creates a sense of surveillance where the prisoners can be observed at any given time. This sense of surveillance and fear of punishment is supposed to induce reform by having the prisoners self-regulate their behaviour.
Foucault’s Panopticon
Focault extends Bentham’s physical idea of the Panopticon to our modern world, where we are always under the potential for surveillance, which induces self-regulatory behaviour. Think social media presence, and browser history. Also think about Performative behaviour.
Aside
There’s a song called Panopticon that touches on this idea of being surveilled with a sense of defiance.