Task 3 - Revised Essay Proposal

Essay Title:-

Discuss two ways in which religion is used as a form of control within contemporary society.

Main issues addressed by your essay and the thrust of your argument:-

Panopticism - docile bodies, self-regulation, false consciousness.

Ideology - religion as myth, natural presence in our lives, acts/rituals.

What Visual Material will you look at?

Jeremy Bentham's design - The Panopticon.

What theoretical perspective/methodologies will you use?

Mythology/Ideology/Panopticism

Which specific theorists/writers will you refer to?

Mainly Foucault's work on Panopticism, along with Althusser's 'Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses' and Barthes work on mythology.

Books/Articles/Resources Already Located:-

• Foucault, M. (1975) "Panopticism‟ in Hall, S. and Evans, J. (1999) Visual Culture: the Reader. London, Sage Publications.
• Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison. Harmondsworth, Penguin. (306 FOU)
• Althusser, L (1969) "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" in Hall, S. and Evans, J. (1999) Visual Culture: the Reader. London, Sage Publications.
• Horrocks, C. and Jevtic, A. (2004) Introducing Foucault. Cambridge, Icon Books.