Abstract

FURTADO, Rafael Nogueira  and  CAMILO, Juliana Aparecida de Oliveira. The concept of biopower in Michel Foucault's Thoughts. Rev. Subj. [online]. 2016, vol.16, n.3, pp. 34-44. ISSN 2359-0769.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5020/23590777.16.3.34-44.

This article analyzes the concept of biopower, as elaborated by Michel Foucault, between 1974 and 1979. Biopower is defined as assuming two forms: on the one hand, it consists on a body political anatomy, and on the other hand, on a biopolitics of the population. The political anatomy refers to the disciplinary devices in charge of extracting from the human body its productive force, by controlling time and space, within institutions such as school, hospital, factory and prison. In turn, the population's biopolitics is based on mass regulation, using knowledge and practices to manage birth rates, migration flows, epidemics, and increased longevity. In addition, it is sought to relate Foucault's analyses on the politics of life to the problematic of liberalism, evidencing the extrapolation of economic logic to social relations. At the end of the article, the authors discuss the contemporary developments of technologies in the live and seek to show how the concept of biopower helps in understanding current forms of governance of conduits.

Keywords : biopower; biopolitics; life; liberalism; Michel Foucault.

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