Michel Foucault's lecture at the Collège de France from January to April 1978, Sécurité, Territoire, Population, marked a turning point in the development of his research. Taking as his starting point the problem of bio-power, introduced at the end of the 1976 lecture, "Il faut défendre la société", he set out to study the establishment, in the 18th century, of this new technology of power, distinct from disciplinary mechanisms, which has the population as its object and undertakes to manage it on the basis of knowledge of its specific regularities . Thistechnology of security is inseparable - is the original thesis formulated in this lecture - from liberalism as a governmental rationality founded on the principle of "laisser faire".
This analysis highlights the importance of the notion of "government". This iswhy Michel Foucault chooses, from the fourth lesson, to resituate his problematic within the framework of a history of "gouvernementalité". In astroke of theoretical drama, he suddenly shifts the focus of the lecture from the history of security devices, which temporarily takes a back seat, to the genealogy of the modern state, through the procedures implemented in the West to ensure the "government of men".
Two key moments are examined at: firstly, the invention by Christianity of a new type of power, foreign to the Greco-Roman tradition, which took charge of people and led them individually towards their salvation; secondly, the formation of apolitical "governmentality" in the 16th-17th centuries, which placed the conduct of individuals within the exercise of sovereign power. From the Christian pastorate to government according to the raison d'État, the dual individualizing and totalizing facets of the political rationality on which the modern state is based are revealed. From there, itbecomes possible - will be the subject of the following lecture, Birth of Biopolitics - to analyze the status of freedom within the liberal governmentality born in the 18th century.
This summary is published with the kind permission of éditions du Seuil. It is taken from the back cover of Michel Foucault's book Sécurité, Territoire, Population, published on October 1st, 2004.
Audio recordings of Michel Foucault 's lectures were made by his public, notably by Mr. Gilbert Burlet, and given at the Collège de France.