The Age of Power
Abstract
This chapter deals with the process of self-accretion of power driven by the spread of disciplinary and governmentalist power. We first consider how these forms of power managed to reach two areas that, by and large, had previously been less penetrable to attempts at intentional influence, namely, normality and biological life. And a reconstruction is offered of what can be considered Foucault’s core claim: that the massive accretion and self-accretion of power driven by disciplinary and governmentalist power is one of the main factors involved in the ‘great transformation’ of modern Western societies.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Foucault
Power
and Ethics
Philosophy and Social Theory
Sociology and Norbert Elias
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Routledge eBooks
- Pages
- 261–273
- Publication date
- 13 January 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter