Contrary to the juridico‑contractual representation of society as a voluntary association of pre‑given individuals, the modern individual is simultaneously the fictitious atom of an ideological social theory and a real product fabricated by disciplinary power, which must therefore be analyzed as a productive force that creates realities, domains of objects, and ‘rituals of truth’—including the individual and knowledge of him—rather than merely excluding, repressing, or concealing.

By Michel Foucault, from Discipline and Punish

Key Arguments

  • Foucault notes that social theory often posits individuals as basic elements derived from contract and exchange: ‘It is often said that the model of a society that has individuals as its constituent elements is borrowed from the abstract juridical forms of contract and exchange. Mercantile society, according to this view, is represented as a contractual association of isolated juridical subjects.’
  • While conceding that ‘the political theory of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries often seems to follow this schema’, he insists that at the same time ‘there existed at the same period a technique for constituting individuals as correlative elements of power and knowledge.’
  • He sharply distinguishes between ideological representation and material fabrication: ‘The individual is no doubt the fictitious atom of an “ideological” representation of society; but he is also a reality fabricated by this specific technology of power that I have called “discipline”.’
  • On this basis, he calls for abandoning a purely negative description of power: ‘We must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it “excludes”, it “represses”, it “censors”, it “abstracts”, it “masks”, it “conceals”.’
  • He counters that ‘In fact, power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth.’ This formula expresses his core thesis that power and knowledge are mutually constitutive and productive.
  • He concludes by situating the individual within this productive field: ‘The individual and the knowledge that may be gained of him belong to this production.’ Thus the modern subject and the sciences that know him are not prior to power but outcomes of disciplinary production.

Source Quotes

It is often said that the model of a society that has individuals as its constituent elements is borrowed from the abstract juridical forms of contract and exchange. Mercantile society, according to this view, is represented as a contractual association of isolated juridical subjects. Perhaps.
Indeed, the political theory of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries often seems to follow this schema. But it should not be forgotten that there existed at the same period a technique for constituting individuals as correlative elements of power and knowledge. The individual is no doubt the fictitious atom of an ‘ideological’ representation of society; but he is also a reality fabricated by this specific technology of power that I have called ‘discipline’.
But it should not be forgotten that there existed at the same period a technique for constituting individuals as correlative elements of power and knowledge. The individual is no doubt the fictitious atom of an ‘ideological’ representation of society; but he is also a reality fabricated by this specific technology of power that I have called ‘discipline’. We must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it ‘excludes’, it ‘represses’, it ‘censors’, it ‘abstracts’, it ‘masks’, it ‘conceals’.
The individual is no doubt the fictitious atom of an ‘ideological’ representation of society; but he is also a reality fabricated by this specific technology of power that I have called ‘discipline’. We must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it ‘excludes’, it ‘represses’, it ‘censors’, it ‘abstracts’, it ‘masks’, it ‘conceals’. In fact, power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth.
We must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it ‘excludes’, it ‘represses’, it ‘censors’, it ‘abstracts’, it ‘masks’, it ‘conceals’. In fact, power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth. The individual and the knowledge that may be gained of him belong to this production.

Key Concepts

  • Mercantile society, according to this view, is represented as a contractual association of isolated juridical subjects.
  • there existed at the same period a technique for constituting individuals as correlative elements of power and knowledge.
  • The individual is no doubt the fictitious atom of an ‘ideological’ representation of society; but he is also a reality fabricated by this specific technology of power that I have called ‘discipline’.
  • We must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it ‘excludes’, it ‘represses’, it ‘censors’, it ‘abstracts’, it ‘masks’, it ‘conceals’.
  • In fact, power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth. The individual and the knowledge that may be gained of him belong to this production.

Context

Concluding section of the excerpt, where Foucault contrasts contract theory’s ideological model of individuals with his genealogical claim that discipline fabricates individuals, and where he generalizes to his broader thesis that power is fundamentally productive rather than merely repressive.