Power operates as a diffuse micro-physics not localized in any single institution

Evidence

Of course, this technology is diffuse, rarely formulated in continuous, systematic discourse; it is often made up of bits and pieces; it implements a disparate set of tools or methods. In spite of the coherence of its results, it is generally no more than a multiform instrumentation. Moreover, it cannot be localized in a particular type of institution or state apparatus. For they have recourse to it; they use, select or impose certain of its methods. But, in its mechanisms and its effects, it is situated at a quite different level. What the apparatuses and institutions operate is, in a sense, a micro-physics of power, whose field of validity is situated in a sense between these great functionings and the bodies themselves with their materiality and their forces. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 73

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the ‘micro-physics of power’ concept, which the reader’s thesis extends past prison walls into every home in Oceania.
• XREF: The reader’s thesis directly extends this claim: the telescreen is the micro-physics of power entering the private household, where no single institution owns it but all of Oceania’s apparatuses rely on it. — connects to: Panoptic power derives from invisible omnipresence rather than real presence — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 38; Media are neither state-controlled nor autonomous but oriented within power structures; Power functions like a catalyst, not a cause, in social systems (+7 more)

Related

• Panoptic power embeds within daily functions rather than constraining from without (similarity 0.84)
• Micro-powers are reversible and never overthrown once and for all (similarity 0.82)
• Power can be physically exercised without resorting to violence or ideology (similarity 0.79)
• Networks are how power operates, not how it gets dissolved (similarity 0.79)
• Panopticism extends discipline from enclosed quarantine to every distant element (similarity 0.78)
• Discipline is a type of power, not an institution or apparatus (similarity 0.78)
• Power functions automatically when subjects believe they are always visible (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Panoptic power derives from invisible omnipresence rather than real presence #expands (0.92) — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 38
• Disciplinary power stays invisible while making its subjects compulsorily visible #expands (0.90) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 288
• Surveillance-based power operates by optics rather than force #exemplifies (0.85) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 273
• Power is code-guided communication, not a property possessed by anyone #complicates (0.80)
• Media are neither state-controlled nor autonomous but oriented within power structures #exemplifies (0.78)
• Structural media power cannot be measured by overt pressure events. #qualifies (0.78)
• Power functions like a catalyst, not a cause, in social systems #complicates (0.75)