Is a fruitful encounter between Marx and Foucault possible?

Reflections from social theory on the commodity form and the generalization of disciplines

Abstract

The impact generated by Discipline and Punish has not stopped growing since its appearance in 1975. This article addresses the research strategies underlying his analysis of the prison, which in a short time went from being a marginal element of criminality to constitute the privileged form of punishment. Foucault’s hypothesis suggests that its rapid acceptance by the legal system is due to the prior generalization of disciplines spread throughout the social body. The problem lies in the fact that such a hypothesis, despite its evident originality, nevertheless has a constituent defect in the proposed analysis, in not making explicit the preconditions that allowed such a process possible. The purpose of the article is to identify them in Marx’s analysis of primitive accumulation. In this way, we highlight the elements of aggregation and complementation, as well as the possible disputes between both authors, managing to postulate how the microphysics of power is embedded in the generalization of the commodity form and the dominance of capital.