Compare and contrast two examples of surveillance culture in the Essay

Compare and contrast two examples of surveillance culture in the digital age, drawing on Foucault's notion of disciplinary socie - Essay Example R.D. Laing was a pioneer of various treatments for the then known paranoid schizophrenics. He can be said to be an important tie between Gilles Dileuze and Michel Foucault. He is a concrete reference in 1,000 Plateau's, and is a notable figure 'personal' to both Foucault and Deleuze's respective past's. The following is an essay and analysis on the subject of paranoia as it is a part of a nexus of the "continuous forms of control" [Deleuze, 1992, , 4] . The focus of this analysis, is toward both understanding the causes of this unfortunate condition, and further, the following will examine also how schizophrenia effects those who are families or friends with individuals. Careful consideration in this discussion will be paid to understanding also, the varieties of schizophrenia , and in turn, what can be said to be the degree of severity for this disorder. This paper will begin with a discussion of the debate in the literature on this subject, and proceed to present a discussion of ho w schizophrenia effects the families who surround individuals who suffer from this disorder. Aside from the nexus of relationships involved, focus will also be paid to the issue of current technologies. It can be said that any use of the internet, and second, any use of a basic cell-phone both raise concerns about privacy and security. In both instances, one has to assume that they do not have control over what is being used by supposedly private data. It is a closed 'system' in the Foucault sense. One cannot control the data on either the internet or the telephone, so that one has to begin with the assumption that the subject or consumer does not have control. Likewise, this is an important parallel to skizophrenia. One either has it or they do not. Schizophrenia is a disease which can be effectively controlled. There are a number of medications which allow these individuals some relief from the suffering which is associated with schizophrenia . For the disease itself, the sufferin g of the individual can be seen in terms of having to cope with hallucinations. By this, it is implied in terms of seeing things which are not really there, or hearing voices, and so on [Westen, 1996, p. 593]. One can only imagine how disorienting a state of mind this must be. And, there are different types of schizophrenia in terms of the degrees with which an individual’s reality can become distorted. For example, there is a condition known as paranoia schizophrenia . This is a state of mental reasoning which is directed toward believing in the behaviour of other individuals, and sometimes objects (e.g. radios, trees). That is, it is a state of mind where the individual who is suffering from this disorder, will attribute an ‘order’ or a ‘pattern’ where such an order or pattern simply does not exist [Westen, 1996, p. 593]. The systems stand in an "analogical" relationship with each other. They are are all systems that exhibit "continuous forms of co ntrol". What is controlled, and how it is being controlled varies among "hospital system", "prison system" and the "school system". "On the other hand, the different control mechanisms are inseparable variations, forming a system of variable geometry the language of which is numerical (which doesn't necessarily mean binary)." The current control is the