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A 'Panopticon' is a watchtower overlooking a circular prison. The glass of the look out is mirrored, so that inmates cannot look inside. They assume, that they are constantly watched and eventually internalise the warden's prescriptions and make them their own.
The idea was originally put forward by the utilitarian Jeremy Bentham as a serious proposal for prison reform.
Michel Foucault adapted the idea to a philosophical construct and suggest to us, that we can break the walls by 'extimating' what does not belong to us, rather than internalising like sheep to the slaughter.