Beyond sovereign power: law as a device of disciplinary power

Abstract

Does the law provide us the best framework for understanding the working of relations of domination and their implications? Isn't there another mechanics which, by working in an almost invisible way, would turn out to be more efficient in guaranteeing desirable effects? These are the problems to be addressed in this paper. Following a path opened by the analyses of Michel Foucault, this article purports to point out, initially, the characteristics and the limitations of  the approach that reads mechanisms of domination as lying essentially under the  shadow of law. Then, I will present the alternative reading, offered by the French philosopher. Finally, I will try to understand the role played by that laws in the context of a disciplinary society.