dispositif

Dispositif is one of the most prevalent concepts in 20th and 21st century philosophy, especially in Continental philosophy. As a philosophical term, dispositif has been introduced into the English language via the work of Michel Foucault, although there is now an extensive literature covering the much broader genealogy of dispositifs in contemporary philosophy. In general, they are a complex arrangement of discursive and non-discursive elements, which produce our world, subject positions, and ways of understanding. In the words of Gilles Deleuze, they are "machines that make one see and speak." Power is productive in dispositifs, which not only capture, control, and orient subjects, but also create openings for resistance (either through counter-dispositifs or by rendering them inoperative). Dispositifs are used by scholars in a number of disciplines, including anthropology, art history, communication studies, cultural studies, feminism, film studies, geography, linguistics, literary theory, organization theory, political science, queer theory, science and technology studies, and sociology.

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