What Is Foucault's Idea Of Power Knowledge?

During the 18th and 19th centuries, punishment was made to be a type of revenge from the judicial system, and was demanded to be preformed in the towns square for all to watch. Like all things, change is common in our world, and the notion of punishment is no different. Although not much has been altered, Foucault examined the concepts involved in punishment and how the criminal justice system dehumanizes individuals of society. Analyzing through the ideologies of surveillance and discipline, which are repetitively implanted into members of society brains and social norms, the fundamental concepts of power, knowledge, and body are used in the examination of any structural domination. Garland breaks down the concepts of Foucault’s idea of power
In order for the process to be successful, a degree of knowledge and control over the object; which could be an individual or a situation, must be present. An understanding of its strengths and weaknesses, its reactions and its possibilities for change also need to be readily available. Knowledge can therefore be related back to power using the term ‘power-knowledge’ described by Garland using Foucault understanding located in his book titled Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison. This term demonstrates the notion at which knowledge is not looked at in an individual’s intellectual development, but instead knowledge forms and techniques, which were formed and embedded in the history of power and its relations to the body. The production of knowledge can be observed through today’s society when examining the concepts/ideas of biopower. This term signifies the idea of power over life in relation to bio defining as life. Garland examines this idea and how the more knowledge an individual or public institution encounters, the greater increase of power one has over