Panopticon
Etymology
Coined by Jeremy Bentham in 1787 from Greek "pan," all, and "optikon," seeing, for a circular prison with a central inspection tower. Foucault turned it into a metaphor for how modern power disciplines through the mere possibility of surveillance.
noun · /pan-OP-tih-kon/
A building — or a system — arranged so a single unseen watcher can observe everyone, making all behave as if always watched.
What it names
Control achieved not by watching people but by making them unsure whether they are being watched.
Example
The open-plan office became a soft panopticon: no one was always watching, so everyone behaved as though someone might be.
Related idea
The noun realizing the adjective panoptic; the panopticon is the machinery beneath surveillance capitalism, control by the felt chance of being seen.