Disciplinary Power
Abstract
This chapter deals with Foucault’s analysis of disciplinary power, explaining what its typical goal and means are, namely, to strictly regiment a targeted activity to achieve the efficient production of a certain utility through organization, training, and monitoring techniques. We look at the differences between directive power and disciplinary power, which in its paradigmatic form is based on achieving an automation of patterns of conduct through training. We then turn to what Foucault called ‘panopticism’, that is, the tendency of disciplinary power to take on anonymous forms and to grow by self-accretion.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Foucault
Power
and Ethics
Philosophy and Social Theory
Sociology and Norbert Elias
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Routledge eBooks
- Pages
- 213–247
- Publication date
- 13 January 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter