Power produces knowledge

Michel Foucault (1926–1984) in Discipline and Punish (1975) and his interviews: power and knowledge imply each other. There is no power without a field of knowledge, and no knowledge that does not presuppose power relations.

He tracks a shift from sovereign power (public torture) to disciplinary power (surveillance, especially the Panopticon). The Panopticon works by making inmates feel they might always be seen, so they police themselves. Later he analyses biopower: power over populations (health, sexuality, life).

His approach shifts from archaeology (unearthing discourses) to genealogy (tracing how power/knowledge regimes emerge in history).