Disciplinary power names the form of power characteristic of industrial capitalism that operates through producing docile bodies rather than through sovereign violence. Foucault analysed how discipline functions through constant surveillance, normalising judgment and hierarchical observation.
The panopticon serves as architectural model. Inmates know they might be watched and internalise the disciplinary gaze. Bodies are trained through repetitive exercises, spatial organisation and temporal regulation within enclosed institutions.
Disciplinary power proved adequate for describing industrial capitalism’s requirements. Psychopolitics marks the shift to neoliberal modes operating through voluntary self-exploitation rather than external constraint.
Related: biopolitics, psychopolitics, Foucault, panopticon