Power over Life

What is “power over life”? Do you agree with Foucault that this is how power manifests itself today? Can you feel its influence in your own life? There are many definitions of power, it is often described as something that presses on the subject from the outside or the ability to do something or act in a particular way. However there is much more to power, Foucault describes power as forming the subject as well as providing the very condition of its existence and the trajectory of its desire. Power is not only what we oppose but also in a strong sense what we depend on for our existence and what we harbor and preserve in the beings that we are. Power is not always obvious when it comes to sexuality, neither is it gender related, it should also be noted that power is not static. Life according to … is ………… In earlier times, the sovereign had the right of life and death over his subjects. This "right of life" was effectively a "right of death." The power exercised by the sovereign was simply a matter of deciding whether or not someone would be killed. Sovereign power in general exercised itself as a form of "deduction": it consisted in the power to take things life, taxes, property, privileges away from its subjects. The ancient original source of power over life was the Roman right of the father to dispose of the life he created. Power over life was negative symbolized by the sword, which can either take or allow life. Today, Foucault suggests, power no longer asserts itself as a deduction, as a “right of death”. The Primary interest of power now is in life, and how to secure, extend, and improve it. I must be sure to explain that The right of death is a negative kind of power and power over life is a positive kind of power. Foucault describes this new power over life as “bio power” which takes two main forms one an anotomo- which is the politics of the human body or the discipline of the body where the human body is treated like a machine which leads to