Michel Foucault’s chapter titled “Panopticism” explores the issue of surveillance and its close ties to discipline and power. Foucault’s examination of surveillance during the plague possesses a lot of similarities to the modern day issue of internet surveillance. Foucault’s examination of survalines during the pledge is eerily similar and therefore be used to describe the contemporary phenomenon internet surveillance and by extension the contested matter of ‘net neutrality’. Foucault’s description of the quartinies and disciplinary measures that took place during the plague can be extended to aid in the understanding of ‘the threat of the internet’ on today’s society.
The plague undoubtedly threatened society and therefore some level of
Change in European Understanding of Plague in the 1348 versus 1352 Known as the “Black Death,” one of the most devastating plague pandemic wiped out approximately 30 to 60 percent of the European population, peaking in between 1348 and 1350 . It caused massive religious, social, and economic, upheaval in the European society causing great changes in the European culture and lifestyle1. Finally, when after three and a half years the first wave passed in 1351, it spared few regions causing devastation in towns, rural communities, families, and religious institutions . The plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe via the ports of Caffa and Sicily in 1347, when several Italian merchant ships returned from a trip to the Black Sea, one of the key links in trade with China .
People grew more and more concerned with contracting the disease that they would try to isolate themselves, “… and human aid was as vail as it was destructive to those who approached the infected.” ( Hecker, J. C., & Babington, B. G., pg 6) This quote shows the tremendous devastation that the plague caused since once the person was infected there was very little that could be done to save that person and in turn the risk that people faced when attempting to help someone would only kill them. The concern with contacting the disease was so terrifying since they would die a painful death that even mothers and fathers would abandon their children as soon as they discovered that they were infected. (DeWitte, S., & Slavin,
The plague was a disease that devastated Europe and the Christian population. Christians handled the plague very differently than the other
The plague then started to infect thousands and thousands until 35% of Europe’s population was deceased. This reduced the world population in total to seventy-five to one hundred million people. Massive loss of life was caused. For a short time war stopped and trade declined. Many of the serfs died, so the remaining ones demanded higher wages.
All plagues strike by uprooting individual lives and society as a whole. Nevertheless, the particular circumstances regarding the government, and religious and cultural beliefs in the affected lands influence the specific results of the tragedy, as witnessed through the Black Death and smallpox. Although both diseases led to drastic economic changes, they caused different overturns of religious beliefs, and only the Black Death resulted in the creation of public health services and the marginalization of groups of people. A lack of labor precipitated alterations to the economy--the end of feudalism in the case of the Black Death and the creation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the case of smallpox.
The Bubonic plague ended up being catastrophic, and so devastating to European society because it caused changes in attitude towards religion, changes in population, and an increase of antisemitism. The Black Death spread so quickly through Europe that people did not even have time to process what was going on. As seen in the map “The Bubonic Plague spreads through Europe,”
The cramped living conditions, lack of proper medical care, and even lack of attention for the sick helped the virus spread. With the medical knowledge available at the time that is not hard to fathom. Plus one has to take into count self-preservation. The best chance to stay healthy was to avoid anyone who may have the plague or someone who has possibly come into contact with a victim of it. Which was basically impossible in those conditions.
With nearly seventy-five million people dead, the plague began to fade out, and large social changes were made as a result. The people who survived the pandemic profited from a shortage of labor. In an effort to keep the serfs on their land to work, the lords increased their living conditions and made their land look more desirable
The reason the bubonic plague was so devastating to the European society is because no one was prepared for so many people to die so quickly. This event that reached Italy in the spring of 1348 was one of the most deeply stressing moments of humanity that faced most of Europe. No only did 50% of Europe’s population die it affected every single part of the European society. The culture, education, economy, religion, and the simplicity of life was turned upside down from this epidemic. Not only was were the symptoms of the plague bad, while you had the symptoms you suffered with the misery effects of the plague that there was no cure for.
Europe in the fifteen hundreds was a dangerous, local, hierarchic, tradition-bound, slow moving, and poor filled with the tasks of providence, salvation and community. Europe during the fifteen hundreds were a dangerous place; disease, famine, and violence all prevented the population of the era to live a long life. One of the major killers during the time was disease. Disease and plagues killed major parts of the population, the bubonic plague, for example, claimed the lives of perhaps a third of Europe’s population in five years.
Often as a result of overpopulation, pandemics—like swine flu and ebola, for instance—have affected life on Earth for centuries; one of the most well-known, and possibly the most unforgiving epidemics was the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death . Although the first symptoms of the Plague trace back to the Mongol Empire in 1331, the disease first struck Europe in Venice and Genoa during the winter of 1348. In the following years, the Bubonic Plague spread rapidly throughout Europe, killing roughly a third of its population. It is suggested that the rapid spread and extreme severity of the Black Death was partially due to the weakened immune system of the Europeans, which had been caused by the Great Famine, a period of food scarcity that affected Europe from 1315 to 1322. Additionally, the lack of knowledge about the spread of
Economic and Social Consequences of the Black Death The Black Death was no modest disease it swept all over Europe during the dark ages , had immense and annihilating effects and is in fact one of the most disastrous and destructive pandemics in human history. It rapidly spread through Medieval Europe during 1347-1351 killing more than one third of the population. In the midst of Italy’s overpopulated cities 50 to 60 percent of the population died while villages were completely swept of their people in England and Germany (Spielvogel World History and Geography 248-249). The Black did not only bring the tragedy of killing millions but it also came with many consequences such as economic inflation and extreme social distinction ("Social and Economic Effects of the Plague").After the intense shock of the Black Death, Europe’s economically declined, its internal affair were instable and its social systems
The economic impact of this contagious disease which spread across Europe during the Middle Ages affected the entire continent. It is, however, extremely difficult to gather the data needed to calculate the economic consequences of these infections. An analysis of various medieval infectious diseases can add to enlightening the possible economic and cultural consequences of plagues. The outcome of every epidemic is a systematic study and its effects are not always the same.
The Black Death was a disease that had a catastrophic impact on Europe. Reaching Europe in 1347, the plague killed an estimation of one-third of the population in the first wave. Each document varies with its reasons for the cause of the plague and how to deal with it. The first document Ordinances against the Spread of Plague seemed to blame Pisa and Lucca for the plague and thus, began to forbid contact with those places. It was forbidden for citizens of Pistoia to go to, or have contact with anyone or anything from Pisa or Lucca.
During the mid-fourteenth century, a plague hit Europe. Initially spreading through rats and subsequently fleas, it killed at least one-third of the population of Europe and continued intermittently until the 18th century. There was no known cure at the time, and the bacteria spread very quickly and would kill an infected person within two days, which led to structural public policies, religious, and medical changes in Europe. The plague had an enormous social effect, killing much of the population and encouraging new health reforms, it also had religious effects by attracting the attention of the Catholic Church, and lastly, it affected the trade around Europe, limiting the transportation of goods. As a response to the plague that took place