In this way, Foucault saw power as dispersed throughout society rather than centralized in the hands of small groups or individuals. “Power is everywhere,” he wrote (Foucault 1980, 93), “not because...

In this way, Foucault saw power as dispersed throughout society rather than centralized in the hands of small groups or individuals. “Power is everywhere,” he wrote (Foucault 1980, 93), “not because it embraces everything but because it comes from everywhere.” Power relationships play out in countless local “fields,” such as the family, the prison, the workplace, a doctor’s office, a classroom, and a place of worship. As a consequence, power is fragmented into many different forms that cause people to change their behavior willingly by monitoring their own actions to conform to expectations. Philosopher and gender studies professor Sandra Lee Bartky (1990) argues that this kind of self-monitoring leads many women, for example, to closely regulate their own bodies through constant dieting, “proper” hair removal, the application of makeup, and the wearing of fashionable clothing. Carried to extremes, the impact of this internalized disciplinary power can produce eating disorders and other unhealthy behaviors—another form of imprisonment.