The social theory developed by Michael Foucault is quite an arduous concept. Basically, the central idea to his theory is the controlling of the human species through forces that we do not see. Although he wrote this 1995, it is ever more pertinent today. With all of the new technology, especially new surveillance techniques, “big brother” has the ability to always watch over us. Foucault notes on this when he states: “Our society is one not of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface of images, one invests bodies in depth” (69).

He also states that more modern societies have more room for observing and jurisdiction. It is in our right to be free, and we are all rational human beings who think and reflect on the things we do and see. Therefore, we can demand certain things from a state since it is in our liberty and basically our democratic duty to do so. However, the state also has the power to control the citizen, therefore making the citizen essentially under a power and not free.

What I find most interesting about Foucault is in the last few paragraphs, where he describes schools, factories, and hospitals as similar venues, however not only in their structure but because they are alike in their functions—inspecting people and making them fit into a certain mold society has set. This says a lot considering people can spend a lot of time in these various establishments.