Abstract

This paper examines one of the important aspects of Michel Foucault’s political philosophy: different mechanisms subordinating people to the governing discourse. In contrast to the prevailing theories of the “public sphere”, seeking an liberation through the liberation of speech, Foucault focuses his attention on the “order of the discourse”, and the inevitable power that language has upon people. Among numerous strategies of power/knowledge the following seem to be of the greatest importance: the power of fiction, exclusion, normalization, and the appropriation of discourse.