Biopower

The concept of biopower was popularized by French philosopher Michel Foucault in the late 20th century and employed by him throughout the latter part of his career. "Bio-pouvoir "describes a power bent on generating forces, making them grow, and ordering them, rather than one dedicated to impeding them, making them submit, or destroying them. This revolutionary concept of power marked, to greater and lesser degrees, Foucault s published and unpublished works throughout the remainder of his life. Biopower, however, is not a strictly Foucaultian motif; it has been a pervasive theme in much of 20th-century thought, found in the philosophies of Hannah Arendt, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Giorgio Agamben, Michael Hardt, and Antonio Negri. Though much work has been done with the concept of biopower by various figures since Foucault, little has been done to unify the disparate themes and motifs currently being explored through the use of this concept. On display in this volume is the diversity of the uses of the concept as top scholars work here each in a unique way with the notion of biopower."