How did Michel Foucault connect social science with power?

Michel Foucault revolutionized the study of power by rejecting the traditional view that power is merely a top-down force exercised by a sovereign or state to impose its will. Instead, he argued that power and knowledge are inextricably linked in a dynamic he termed pouvoir-savoir, or power-knowledge.1234

Foucault posited that the human sciences—such as psychology, criminology, and clinical medicine—do not provide neutral, objective truths. Rather, these disciplines and their governing conceptual schemes, or epistemes, are deeply entangled with structures of social control. In modern society, institutions like prisons, hospitals, and schools function as sites where power-knowledge is produced and applied to define, classify, and manipulate individuals.432

By categorizing people as "normal" or "deviant," these systems of knowledge exert a form of disciplinary power that shapes human identities and conduct. Foucault’s analysis suggests that agents of power do not exist independently; rather, they are socially constructed by these very relationships. Ultimately, his work demonstrates that power is productive, creating the frameworks of truth and identity through which we understand ourselves and our society.421

Would you like to explore how this concept of power-knowledge differs from traditional Marxist or Weberian views?