The Panoptic Gaze on the Soul:

Foucault, Religion, and Self-Surveillance of Subjectivities in Postmodernity

Abstract

This study investigates how the disciplinary power described by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish manifests in the context of religion and postmodernity. Foucault analyzes the transition from physical and visible punishments to more subtle and internalized forms of surveillance, in which the subject exercises self-control. The research examines how this disciplinary dynamic, once centralized in institutions such as prisons and schools, adapts to the postmodern religious sphere, characterized by individualized and fragmented spirituality.

The adopted methodology is qualitative, based on an interpretative analysis of Discipline and Punish and studies on religion and postmodern subjectivities. By relating Foucault’s concept of discipline to contemporary religious practices, the research offers a critical perspective on how religion, even when decentralized, continues to function as a tool of self-regulation and normalization.

The results indicate that disciplinary power, though less visible, persists in an internalized form, particularly in the personalized religious practices of postmodernity, where the subject becomes both their own observer and moral regulator. The study concludes that in postmodernity, surveillance and social control become less institutionalized but remain deeply ingrained in the individual, shaping identities in a self-managed manner.