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Abstract
Abstract
In this article I use Michael Foucault's discussions of the relations between power and knowledge to explore the Norwegian health policy. It is mainly the intensifying of what we can call the prophylactic or preventive strategy that will be debated. I will argue that knowledge is not "innocent" or "neutral", but instead is related to and supports "techniques" that can be interpreted as mechanisms of power; which means techniques that affect our bodies, that influence our way of acting and that form our senses. The body is an object for installing and extracting knowledge. In this perspective, power is not only seen as a repressive force, but will primarily be considered as a productive force: The state has developed different health initiatives that produce more information and knowledge about the population, and everybody can use this knowledge as a resource in their own "work" for constructing an identity. And because citizens always behave disobediently, incomprehensibly and unpredictably they produce a need for more knowledge and new initiatives from the government.
Key words: Power, Foucault, prophylactic, health policy, knowledge.
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