What is a Dispositif?

• Complex Network: A dispositif (or apparatus) is a network of interconnected elements that

include discourses, institutions, laws, scientific knowledge, architectural forms, and even
seemingly mundane objects. These elements work together to produce specific social effects
and shape how power operates within a society.

• Strategic Function: A dispositif is not random. It arises to address a specific need or problem
in society and maintains its influence through a strategic orientation.

• Beyond Institutions: While institutions can form part of a dispositif, the concept goes
beyond formal structures to include a wide range of elements shaping how we think and act.

Key Elements of a Dispositif

1. Discursive: This includes statements, knowledge systems, philosophical ideas, and the ways
in which a particular subject is spoken about and understood (think back to our discussion
on Foucault and discourse).

2. Non-Discursive: Includes institutional practices, architecture, material objects, laws,

regulations—the tangible practices and structures enforcing the discourse.

3. Subjectification: The process through which individuals are shaped and molded into
particular types of subjects within the dispositif. Our very way of understanding ourselves is
influenced by the power systems embedded within a dispositif.

Examples of Dispositifs

• The Prison:

o Discourses: Theories of criminality, ideas about punishment and rehabilitation.

o Non-Discursive: Prison architecture (panopticon), daily routines, surveillance

systems.

o Subjectification: Inmates are formed into disciplined, or 'criminal' subjects.

• The Medical System:

o Discourses: Scientific knowledge about the body, definitions of health/illness.

o Non-Discursive: Hospitals, clinics, medical technologies, bureaucracy.

o Subjectification: Patients are shaped into those seeking treatment, their bodies
become objects of medical knowledge.

• Sexuality:

o Discourses: Psychological classifications, moral codes, religious views on sex.

o Non-Discursive: Sex education, legal definitions, and regulations around sexuality.

o Subjectification: People are categorized based on their sexualities and behaviors

(heterosexual/homosexual, 'normal'/'deviant').

Why Does Foucault's Concept of Dispositif Matter?

• Power is Diffuse: It's not just about who is in charge. Power is exercised through complex
networks of knowledge, practices, and objects shaping how we think, act, and even
understand ourselves.

• Dynamic and Evolving: Dispositifs are always shifting, responding to pressures or resistance.
Analyzing them reveals how power and our ideas of 'truth' are constantly being negotiated
and reformed.

• Sites of Resistance: Understanding dispositifs can also reveal points where power relations
can be challenged and alternative ways of thinking and being can emerge.