Biopower – an effective philosophy of the body?

Biopower is a term invented by the French philosopher, Michel Foucault. It refers to the regulation of subjects of any modern state, and more specifically, to our bodies subjugation through “an explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the control of populations”. The term first appeared in The Will to Knowledge, Foucault’s first volume of The History of Sexuality.

With the term ‘Biopower’, Foucault designates the set of mechanisms, techniques and technologies through which the basic biological features of the human species become the object of political strategies in modern Western societies.

It relates to the Government’s concern with fostering the life of the population and emphasises the protection of life rather than the threat of death, through the regulation of the body.

But this has resulted in us all being force-fed a check list of responsibilities. From improved eating habits, constant health warnings, ‘correct’ reproductive practices, to rather more ‘PC’ concepts of “family”, “blood“, and “well-being”. Apart from the fact that we might think we know what our bodies need better than the state does – there is an underlying danger in the idea of power serving the ‘protection of the collective body’.

When the state uses its power to protect the health of the population – when the stakes are life itself, anything can be justified. Groups identified as the threat to the existence of the life of the nation or of humanity can be eradicated with impunity. This is indeed a dark side to the notion that Biopower is an effective philosophy of the body.

As someone who is still learning about how my body functions most effectively, and how far I can push myself (and the consequences of burn-out) – I have acquired a better understanding in Sanjuro classes of my limitations, and how to manage my stamina, injuries and attitudes to my health, through an emphasis on the individual. Unlike the concept of Biopower, Sanjuro respects that each body, and each of our strengths and weaknesses can all be used, and can all be rendered effective and understood. We are all the sum of our parts, just as the populations ‘body’ is a constantly evolving thing, which should be not subjugated and tamed, but listened to, instead.