Punishment can be explained as being concerned with the re-assertion of authority.
In order to demonstrate that the subject has submitted to authority, they are required to undergo a humiliating, hurtful, degrading or painful experience that they would not normally tolerate or voluntarily submit to.
Such acts of submission are more concerned with public demonstrations of the power of the authority figure, who's stature they are intended to enhance, than with any benefit that the punished may derive.
Any benefits accruing from acts of punishment are in the interests of the authority figures and not in the interests of the punished. For punishment to work the punished must loose out, suffer, be diminished, be restricted and must be SEEN to do so.
Punishment is coercive. It is as much aimed at an audience as it is at a subject.
Who gains what from punishment?
If punished, is it in your interest to be hurt, degraded, humiliated or harmed? Do you benefit from this?
Does it in someway rectify the situation? Undo the fault? Make amends? Re-balance?
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