biopower

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The sum of the various techniques used by modern nation-states to control not individual subjects but their entire populations, as contrasted with traditional modes of power based on the threat of death from a sovereign.
  2. Bioenergy.

Word forms

biopower

Etymology

From bio- + power, calque of French biopouvoir, coined by Michel Foucault.

Related words

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