The Law School Panopticon

14/4/2020

Issue 7, Volume 17

GENCO CEYLAN

‘Induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power’ (Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 201).

You awake without an alarm. The day feels like it’s just begun, but the irrepressible march of time cares not how you feel. You check your phone. A never-ending stream of incomprehensible information about a pandemic. Your mobile phone, which has been a source of comfort for so many years, is again espousing an endless mire of nihilistic news.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

But life goes on. You have commitments and aspirations. These commitments and aspirations are all relative to those around you. Amongst the chaos, the underlying realisation that we exist in a bubble begins to surface.

It need not be so. Undoubtedly, our achievements in life are a reflection of others. We measure our own success against our neighbour’s. Failure and success start to feel like absolutes. Yet when we are left to our own devices, without constant visible comparison, these ideas start to dissipate.

The French Philosopher Michel Foucault understood how constant visibility affects our psyche in his analysis of the Panopticon, a conceptual prison model designed by English social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The design places a ring of cells around a central guard tower, in which the prisoners are perpetually within view of the guards in the tower, but cannot see into the tower themselves. This leaves the prisoners uncertain as to whether or not they are being watched, and ultimately compels them to behave not through observation, but through the fear of observation.

Entering law school is akin to entering a fraternity where everyone is in competition with each other. The apprehension around that has a self-policing role. The connectedness of campus life demeans your ability to maintain secrecy around your actions and behaviours, analogous to the position of compelled behaviour modification in Bentham’s prison. Everyone monitors each other and therefore conforms to deindividualized, automated behaviours, with each person identifying as being in a state of absolute vulnerability. We are left feeling absolute states of elation or demoralisation in the aftermath of relative achievements.

The ability to see anything at any time is the prison cell here. Each avenue of the curriculum is inhabited by another student already and you tend to conform to the norm for fear of standing out and being incorrect – ergo inferior.

In moments of isolation, we would do well to remind ourselves not to fall into a social Panopticon. Through constant comparison we adopt the role of both the guard and the prisoner. There is great importance in realising that we exist in reflection of not just each other, but also of our past selves. Every passing moment is another chance to reflect and more importantly a chance to learn.

Chaos gives us the excuse to come to terms with ourselves and realise the relativity of failure in the journey of finding success at another juncture. The only thing preventing this realisation is the sort of hostile inter-personal comparison that eventually leaves us feeling inferior. Distancing ourselves from the social Panopticon is a good place to start.

Genco Ceylan is a first-year JD student.

Ousmane Dembele

14/4/2020 05:56:19 pm

Fascinating insights.
Thanks Genco!

Jaded Third Year Student

14/4/2020 06:20:22 pm

Imagine writing this after three weeks of physical attendance at uni

Genco

14/4/2020 06:49:22 pm

Hi Jared,

Thanks for your feedback. I’d say that the overarching message is a universal one. While my personal views on the experience are of course fresh and therefore potentially ill informed, they’re still just that - personal. You don’t have to agree with those views but I still think there’s value to be derived from the message.

A JADED GRADUATE

15/4/2020 02:32:24 am

Truer words were never spoken sooner by none other than a first year. An 'older=wiser' comment as above really goes to showcase that the ecosystem cultivated by students in Law School in the form of senior advice, among other things, structures students to conform to this hierarchy before entering the corporate world. Further implying power comes not from the Law School system, rather the extrinsic factors influencing the power dynamics within it - compare yourself and be compared. Great observation and interesting read young, Genco.

Francis Stagg

15/4/2020 09:33:07 am

Genco,

Your Foulcauldian perspective vis-a-vis the law school is (as I see it) not confined to the inner sanctums of Theory.

Consider how 'the Meta' shapes the contours of learning for many law students (especially beginners):
i) Anesti; followed by
ii) 'Apex' notes acquired from 'person H1' of the preceding year; and finally combined with a
iii) sprinkling of class notes extracted VERBATIM from the applicable lecturer.

My own experience suggests that this is/was a dominant - albeit manufactured - approach to learning as a JD student.

Those who are able to emancipate themselves from this educational paradigm will - in my opinion - be rewarded with a more holisitc learning experience.

Always Watching

14/4/2020 06:45:07 pm

Foucault's Panopticon was unquestionably the inspiration for the JD silent study area

Another old and weary third year

14/4/2020 07:42:41 pm

If you're writing this after only three weeks of physical uni, you've got another thing coming entirely. At this point the only significant things that have occurred are LMR (pass/fail), plenty of social drinks, and maybe an Obs or Torts assignment, and the first rounds of the usually not that serious competitions.

If you've started to manically compare yourselves to each other at this point, you need to relax. It only gets worse and more competitive, but you need to realise that outside of that your peers don't give a flying fuck about you. They're not going to be laughing behind your back as they find out you've failed a subject but rather breathing a sigh of relief as that's one less person to worry about come clerkship season.

Please enjoy first year for the social lark that it is, before everything goes tits up and people start locking themselves in rooms writing cover letters for four weeks straight.

14/4/2020 09:00:31 pm

I appreciate this viewpoint and have respect for the fact that my viewpoint is open to criticism on experiential grounds. To clarify, this is not an expression of discontent. It's an analysis of why the mental state of comparison, divorceable from an existing physical state, is dangerous. It's less a comment on the state of affairs, more a reflection on why it's important to relax and not 'manically compare'.

With that being said, a comment that it gets 'worse and more competitive' and that those around us don't care for us and by extension want us to fail to do well themselves exacerbates the likelihood of this mental state being adopted. With respect, I think you've overlooked the purpose of the article.

Graduated so by all standards superior

14/4/2020 10:13:06 pm

Every time I come to the DM comments section I await the ‘older a wiser’ comments when a first or second year dares to publish anything that vaguely resembles an opinion piece on the JD experience.

The irony given the prison analysis is not to be overlooked: fresh meat ought to just shut up and respect that they know nothin’ bout the system. They need to earn their proverbial stripes or they’ll be verbally trampled on.

My own perspective is a lot of the mind set contemplated by the author is from school conditioning: intelligent kids who do the private school - uni melb under grad - to Uni Melb post grad rounds. With parents who have ‘professional’ occupations. This is the ‘bubble’.

I worked 4 yrs in the industry to save to go to law school, I then worked in the industry and juggled the JD full time the entire time I was at Melb Uni, and I had a grad position with a boutique firm before even contemplating finishing the JD. My grades were predominantly average - I failed torts first time around.

I didn’t aspire to be better than my peers, just to try my hardest and what will be will be. You can avoid the bubble and the consequent stress by just trying to be the most authentic version of yourself, and by taking a more insular approach to your personal development. You don’t need to do the social drinks and cHiLl UnTiL lAW sChOoL ReAlLY gEtS HaRD or whatever other coveted knowledge third years progress to know about the JD experience... yawn.

This was a standout and interesting opinion piece, although philosophy references have a habit of making me cringe because I’m not an intellectual.

Angry at my own typos

14/4/2020 10:15:55 pm

*’older and wiser’
**profess to know about the JD experience

Third year student

14/4/2020 08:00:21 pm

I'm sorry that you feel this way.
May I ask, however, what experiences you have encountered at the law school gave you such a heavy mental burden?

Bärtholomew Winstringhäm

14/4/2020 08:57:44 pm

Fantastic piece, truly insightful. You seem to have triggered some of your senior peers judging by the comments you have received. One can only think they are feeling an incredible sense of insecurity, trying to mask their fear with a false arrogance and narcissism and thinking that they are superior solely from being in third year. Fear not scholar as you seem to have a bright future in the field of law. All the best!

14/4/2020 09:00:59 pm

Fantastic piece, truly insightful. You seem to have triggered some of your senior peers judging by the comments you have received. One can only think they are feeling an incredible sense of insecurity, trying to mask their fear with a false arrogance and narcissism by thinking that they are superior solely from being in third year. Fear not scholar as you seem to have a bright future in the field of law. All the best!

Curious

14/4/2020 09:36:23 pm

Interesting article.

Out of curiosity, why did you choose to study law?

Go easy on yourself

14/4/2020 10:28:21 pm

It’s quite sad to read such pessimistic takes on the law school experience, especially from someone so new to MLS. Your conclusion is correct that it is beneficial to step back a bit and reflect on what truly constitutes “success” and “failure” for yourself. Only you can ultimately define those goals for yourself and it’s your choice whether or not you do that with an overwhelming focus of it being “relative to others” in some kind of perceived “panopticon” hell-hole of dickish competitiveness. Please remember that and take stock. I don’t think the law school experience should feel as bad as it apparently has already felt for you at times, so perhaps you should consider getting some support whether that be from family and (true) friends, professional, academic or psychological counselling if at times life is feeling quite dystopian and hopeless.

Jackson Willows

15/4/2020 12:45:36 pm

Great read, Genco.

I'm a third year and I remember feeling similar things in my first year.

Don't be discouraged by people trying to make little of your experience just because you're a first-year. This place is filled with insecure, insincere busybodies who would love to see you because they think it would make them feel better. They're bloody dementors in disguise, I tell ya. Don't let them get you down! (Keep your eye out for the good folks, too! They exist).

"Yet when we are left to our own devices, without constant visible comparison, these ideas start to dissipate." You've already found the answer, now you just need to live it!

Thanks for sharing.

aren't you

28/4/2020 10:18:25 pm

the guy who protested the people of colour lunch?

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