Throughout history, we observe a change in the way governance worked to maintain or even attain greater power over the nation (Foucault, 1977). He explained how the mode of administration had shifted from sovereign practices that mainly sought to control territory and its collective population into disciplining individuals. Firstly, the sovereign state empowers itself by the organization of its population and land to confer continuity – prosperity of the state is the ultimate goal (Foucault, 2007). The power lies in one ruler who decides the fate of the entire state while everyone else are subjects expected to do his/her bidding. In a disciplinary society, multiple institutions or Panopticons become key holders of power and these organizations must work together with the government to instill discipline in subjects. As a result, a phenomenon called “normation” occurs. Normation is the process of habituation that people follow and thereby normalize behaviors (Foucault, 1977). This is a very crucial process to creating a disciplined society. It grounds the behavior of all subjects and gives them a set of rules to act within or strive for. This embodies the benchmark and the goal simultaneously. In return, it creates “docile bodies” - people who behave as told expediently, while deviation from it makes one inferior to the rest (Dalibert,
Throughout history, we observe a change in the way governance worked to maintain or even attain greater power over the nation (Foucault, 1977). He explained how the mode of administration had shifted from sovereign practices that mainly sought to control territory and its collective population into disciplining individuals. Firstly, the sovereign state empowers itself by the organization of its population and land to confer continuity – prosperity of the state is the ultimate goal (Foucault, 2007). The power lies in one ruler who decides the fate of the entire state while everyone else are subjects expected to do his/her bidding. In a disciplinary society, multiple institutions or Panopticons become key holders of power and these organizations must work together with the government to instill discipline in subjects. As a result, a phenomenon called “normation” occurs. Normation is the process of habituation that people follow and thereby normalize behaviors (Foucault, 1977). This is a very crucial process to creating a disciplined society. It grounds the behavior of all subjects and gives them a set of rules to act within or strive for. This embodies the benchmark and the goal simultaneously. In return, it creates “docile bodies” - people who behave as told expediently, while deviation from it makes one inferior to the rest (Dalibert,