Power-knowledge
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Power-knowledge is a concept coined by the French philosopher Michel Foucault.
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[edit] Definition of power-knowledge
According to Foucault, techniques of knowledge and strategies of power are mutually inherent. Power is based on knowledge and makes use of knowledge; on the other hand, power reproduces knowledge by shaping it in accordance with its anonymous intentions. Power (re-) creates its own fields of exercise through knowledge.
Foucault incorporates this inevitable mutual inherence in his neologism power-knowledge, the most important part of which is the hyphen that links the two aspects of the integrated concept together.
It is helpful noting that Foucault has a textual understanding of both power and knowledge. Both power and knowledge are to be seen as de-centralised, relativistic, ubiquitous, and unstable (dynamic) systemic phenomena. Thus Foucault’s concept of power draws on micro-relations without falling into reductionism because it does not neglect, but emphasizes, the systemic (or structural) aspect of the phenomenon.
[edit] Implications
According to this understanding, knowledge is never neutral, as it determines force relations. The notion of power-knowledge is therefore likely to be employed in critical, normative contexts.
[edit] History of the term
In his later works, Foucault replaced his notion of power-knowledge by the term governmentality which points to a specific mentality of governance.
[edit] References
Translated English version:
- Foucault, Michel, The History of Sexuality, vol. 1, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1981 (see pp. 92-102).
The original document in French language:
- Foucault, Michel, Histoire de la sexualité, volume 1: La volonté de savoir, Paris, Gallimard, 1976.
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