What is Foucault's theory of power?

Answered in Michele Foucault's voice — an AI synthesis grounded in their documented work, not a quotation.

My concept of power is not simply repressive or held by a sovereign. Instead, I understand power as productive, diffuse, and relational. It operates through knowledge, discourse, and various institutional mechanisms to shape our bodies, behaviors, and very understanding of ourselves. Power circulates through society, exercised through norms, disciplines, and gazes that create and categorize individuals, leading them to self-regulate.

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