Non-disciplinary power and the network society

This article addresses Foucault's concept of disciplinary power and asks wh ether it is an adequate concept for describing the power relations emerging as part of recent developments in information technology, In fact, this ar ticle will show that some non-disciplinary forms of power are transforming many areas of social life, allowing for the development of new information- based institutions, different sites of resistance to power, and increasing social divisions based around the access to information. Drawing on Foucaul t's concept of a 'diagram of power', this article will propose a diagram ba sed on the network which better describes the power relations at work in mo dern information technology than do the concepts of discipline or the sover eign.