Which of the following statements best summarizes the author’s argument?

READTHEORY.ORG Name Date The Panopticon It is commonplace amongst cultural theorists to argue that modern society is a Big Brother state, with certain powerful individuals eyeing our every move and decision, not unlike Big Brother in George Orwell s classic tale of a totalitarian dystopia, 1984. But such arguments miss a larger point: For there to be a Big Brother state, there has to be someone watching us. What we actually live in is a voluntary, self-policing panopticon. That is, we all submit every aspect of our lives to be monitored, but someone is not necessarily watching. As conceived by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, the panopticon would be a way of making a cheaper, more efficient prison. In his design, a central tower would house all the prison guards, and, through holes in each cell, they would be able to monitor the prisoners every movement from within. Bentham believed that the mere act of potentially being monitored would prevent the prisoners from misbehaving, allowing the prison to not even have a guard on duty at all times. Thus, the watched would effectively do the watching. Does this not describe our self-obsessed realities? We create online identities for ourselves to broadcast to the world, constantly thinking about how any potential action would be viewed by others online. In doing so, we police ourselves and prevent originality or deviant behaviors, not wanting to rock the proverbial boat. Social media thus becomes the panopticon, and we its prisoners. And, just like in the panopticon, we cannot be certain that anyone is actually watching what we do, but we let the mere fact that someone might be watching dictate our behavior. 1) Which of the following statements best summarizes the author s principal objection to the argument put forth by cultural theorists in paragraph 1? A. Big Brother is not a group of powerful individuals but, rather, the Internet. B. Nobody would voluntarily subject oneself to constant surveillance. C. Cultural theorists are too quick to ignore the panopticon in favor of Big Brother theory. D. Jeremy Bentham better described our world than did George Orwell. E. There only might be someone surveilling us, not that there actually is a monitor. 2) It can be inferred from the passage that the panopticon A. existed in theory only B. was not understood by George Orwell C. was a precursor to the Internet D. required more guards than did other prisons E. did not have any similarities to other prisons

3) Which of the following best describes the function of paragraph 2? A. It elaborates on a theory put forth earlier in the passage. B. It defines a metaphor the author elaborates on in the passage. C. It changes the focus of the passage to a historical perspective. D. It identifies the main subject of the passage. E. It challenges a commonly held misconception about a historical term. 4) As used in paragraph 3, the word deviant most nearly means A. abhorrent B. abashed C. abusing D. abnormal E. abridged 5) The author of this passage is most interested in discussing A. rival historic perspectives through a philosophical lens B. modern culture through a historical philosophical lens C. modern culture through a literary perspective D. literary theory through the lens of modern culture E. historical inventions through the modern perspective 6) In the final paragraph, the author suggests that social media "becomes the panopticon, and we its prisoners." Is this a fair analogy? Can social media effectively be likened to the panopticon? Why or why not? Explain.

Answers and Explanations 1) E Core Standard: Key Ideas and Details The author states that cultural theorists argue that modern society is a Big Brother state. He or she refutes this by saying that a Big Brother state requires someone to actually be watching us, so he or she posits that society is actually similar to a panopticon, as there only might be someone watching us. Therefore, choice (E) is correct, as it most clearly describes the author s objection to the cultural theorists arguments. The author does not object to the definition of Big Brother put forth by the cultural theorists; rather, he or she disagrees with its application to modern society. Thus, choice (A) is incorrect, as it would suggest the author s main complaint is that the cultural theorists do not correctly understand who Big Brother is. The author does not imply that he or she believes people would not voluntarily subject themselves to constant surveillance. Rather, he or she argues that people already do something similar on the Internet. Thus, choice (B) is incorrect because it would suggest that the author completely disagreed with the cultural theorists, when, in fact, the author disagrees with the application of the term Big Brother. The author does not even suggest that the cultural theorists are aware of Bentham s panopticon, so choice (C) is incorrect. It distorts information in the passage, conflating two separate ideas into one. The author does not suggest that he or she believes Bentham described our world when he conceived the panopticon, nor does the author suggest that Orwell was attempting to define life in the present when he wrote 1984. Thus, the author does not object to the cultural theorists argument because of said misconception, making choice (D) incorrect. 2) A Core Standard: Integration of Knowledge In the second paragraph, the author describes Bentham s conception of the panopticon. He or she uses the subjunctive verb would throughout the paragraph, implying that the panopticon was never actually put in place. Subjunctive moods describe hypotheticals, and one would, thus, not use a subjunctive verb to describe something that actually was made in physical form. Thus, choice (A) is correct. The author never implies that George Orwell understood, heard of, or misunderstood the panopticon. Rather, Orwell is only mentioned as the author of Big Brother, a term used in the passage before the author describes the panopticon. Thus, choice (B) is not correct. Though the author suggests that the Internet has the same effect on society as the panopticon

would, he or she does not suggest that the panopticon literally helped the Internet develop or that the Internet was an evolutionary descendant of the panopticon. Thus, choice (C) is incorrect. The author implies in the second paragraph that a panopticon would actually require fewer guards to be on duty than a normal prison would, as the effect of the panopticon would be to allow the prison to not even have a guard on duty at all times. Thus, choice (D) is incorrect. Though the panopticon the author describes in the second paragraph sounds radical when compared to a normal prison, the author does not imply that the panopticon would have no similarities to other prisons. In fact, both of them would still house inmates and have a mechanism in place to monitor them. The only major difference is the monitoring mechanism itself. Therefore, choice (E) is incorrect. 3) B Core Standard: Integration of Knowledge In paragraph 2, the author explains what a panopticon is and how it would work. The panopticon is introduced as a metaphor in paragraph 1, and the author explains how it functions as a metaphor in paragraph 3. Thus, the function of paragraph 2 is primarily to explain the metaphor the author uses as his or her principal argument in the passage. Therefore, choice (B) is correct. Though the panopticon theory of our society is introduced in the first paragraph, the author primarily elaborates on it in the third paragraph. The second paragraph is primarily used to provide the reader with information about the panopticon itself. Thus, choice (A) is incorrect. Though the author does cite the history of the conception of the panopticon in the second paragraph, paragraph 2 does not change the entire focus of the passage to history. Rather, the third paragraph returns the discussion to our present society, so choice (C) is incorrect. Though the panopticon is an aspect of the main subject of the passage, the author s primary focus is on explaining how modern society is similar to a panopticon. Choice (D) is incorrect because of this and also because of the fact that the panopticon is technically introduced in paragraph 1, not paragraph 2. The author spends most of the passage challenging a metaphorical interpretation of society and introduces a historical term to help explain his or her own view of modern society. However, at no point in the passage (including paragraph 2) does the author suggest that people have misunderstood the term panopticon. Thus, choice (E) is incorrect. 4) D Core Standard: Craft and Structure deviant (adjective): departing from usual or accepted standards or behavioral norms.

In paragraph 3, the author says that the very fact that we might be watched online makes us police ourselves and prevent originality or deviant behaviors, not wanting to rock the proverbial boat. The author suggests, thus, that social media prevents us from being original, deviant, or rocking the boat, implying that deviant relates to original or different. Thus, choice (D) is correct, and deviant most nearly means abnormal. Though the author does imply that social media makes people avoid unusual or atypical behavior, he or she does not imply that the deviant behavior to which he or she refers is necessarily offensive behavior. Thus, choice (A) is incorrect, and deviant does not necessarily mean abhorrent. The author implies that social media makes people avoid unusual or atypical behavior, implying that such behavior might make people feel ashamed or strange. Deviant is used to describe the behaviors the author says people will avoid, so it does not relate to abashed. Abashed would refer to how people would feel in doing deviant behavior, not to the behavior itself. Therefore, choice (B) is incorrect. Though the author does imply that social media makes people avoid unusual or atypical behavior, he or she does not imply that the deviant behavior to which he or she refers is necessarily hurtful. Thus, choice (C) is incorrect, and deviant does not necessarily mean abusive. The author implies that social media makes people avoid unusual or atypical behavior, not behavior that is shortened or trimmed. He or she uses deviant to describe the behavior people avoid, so deviant does not relate to abridged, making choice (E) incorrect. 5) B Core Standard: Integration of Knowledge In the passage, the author refutes a commonly used metaphor for modern society ( a Big Brother state ) in favor of his or her own metaphor, that of the panopticon. The second paragraph describes the panopticon and the third how it applies to the author s view of modern society. Thus, the passage is primarily concerned with looking at modern culture through a historical philosophical lens, as the panopticon is a philosophical concept from history. Thus, choice (B) is correct. Though the author does argue against the Big Brother state theory of our modern society that is put forth by some cultural theorists and in favor of his or her own panopticon metaphor, the passage is about modern culture, not two separate historical perspectives. Further, the passage is more concerned with arguing in favor of the panopticon conception of society than it is with disputing the Big Brother theory. Thus, choice (A) is incorrect. Though the passage is concerned with looking at modern culture, it does not use a literary perspective to do so. It mostly looks at modern culture through a concept invented by English

philosopher Jeremy Bentham, implying that the author is using a philosophical lens, not a literary lens. Thus, even though other cultural theorists do use a literary lens (that of Big Brother), the author does not, so choice (C) is incorrect. The author primarily discusses his or her conception of modern culture by applying a philosophical theory, that of the panopticon. Thus, choice (D) is incorrect because it would imply that the author was interested in looking at literature through a modern perspective rather than modern culture through a philosophical perspective. Though the author does dwell on a historical conception, the panopticon, he or she applies it to modern culture, rather than having it analyzed conceptually through the modern perspective. Thus, choice (E) is incorrect.