Michel Foucault argues that suitable social behaviour was induced by the panoptic disciplinary mechanisms established towards the end of the eighteenth century. The individual was rendered docile and useful by enclosure in spaces such as schools, barracks, factories, hospitals and prisons. Individuals who are confined and under surveillance internalise the constraints of the confining authority. But the established disciplinary mechanisms have been losing force since the 1950s. Here, the sense of personal identity is weakened and anonymity prevails.
Video surveillance is an attempt to create modern panoptic mechanisms - being seen without seeing.
In earlier times, these could only be established in enclosed spaces, but now they are being extended to open spaces frequented by increasingly mobile individuals. A control relationship is established. Video surveillance is a form of behaviour control. It not only deters criminals. At the same time, it modifies the behaviour of all concerned.