--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Power is not an institution, and not a…" description: "\"Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/873/michel-foucault-1134_attributes_power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-st_2952297.jpg" --- # Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither… ![“Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society.” quote by Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/873/michel-foucault-1134_attributes_power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-st_2952297.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/873/michel-foucault-1134_attributes_power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-st_2952297.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/873/michel-foucault-1134_attributes_power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-st_2952297.jpg) > “Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society.” [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Power is a relational construct, defined by complex social dynamics rather than fixed institutions or personal strength. **In simple terms:** Power emerges from social relations. Key Takeaway Recognize power’s fluid nature. Themes politics society structure relational dynamics Mood analytical critical Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - organizational leadership - policy making - social movements - conflict resolution Key Concepts Foucault’s theory social construction strategic interaction Questions to Reflect On - How does power shape everyday interactions? - What strategies reveal hidden power structures? A Different Perspective Power can be subtle and hidden, making it hard to address. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Attributes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attributes/) [Certain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certain/) [Certain Strength](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certain-strength-1879178/) [Complex Strategical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complex-strategical-4456376/) [Institution Structure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/institution-structure-4456378/) [Particular](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/particular/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Power Institution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power-institution-1946302/) [Situation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/situation/) [Strength](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strength/) [Structure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/structure/) [Structure Certain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/structure-certain-4456377/) ## Related quotes > [I'm used to structure, and the relationship I have with my mom, from a military standpoint, is all about structure. There's a certain way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-collins/i-m-used-to-structure-and-the-relationship-i-have-with-my-mom-from-a/) [John Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-collins/) > [Too much power in any institution tends to stifle innovation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-ornish/too-much-power-in-any-institution-tends-to-stifle-innovation/) [Dean Ornish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-ornish/) > [“There is a certain strength in being alone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-duffy-stone/there-is-a-certain-strength-in-being-alone/) [Heather Duffy Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-duffy-stone/) > [“But she's not even remotely coping inside: it takes a certain strength to cry, the confidence that one will eventually be able to staunch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/but-she-s-not-even-remotely-coping-inside-it-takes-a-certain-strength/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [What I really appreciated about Obama in the last campaign was that he was not reactive, and we're such a reactive culture... It takes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-berlanti/what-i-really-appreciated-about-obama-in-the-last-campaign-was-that/) [Greg Berlanti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-berlanti/) > [A lot of characters I've played have a certain amount of strength, pride, and leadership.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mekhi-phifer/a-lot-of-characters-i-ve-played-have-a-certain-amount-of-strength/) [Mekhi Phifer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mekhi-phifer/) > [It takes a certain amount of strength of character to decide you're not satisfied with something and then change it and to change it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-owens/it-takes-a-certain-amount-of-strength-of-character-to-decide-you-re/) [Rick Owens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-owens/) > [I think that my past stands me in good stead in that it does have a certain strength for musicians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-sebastian/i-think-that-my-past-stands-me-in-good-stead-in-that-it-does-have-a/) [John Sebastian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-sebastian/) > [God is compassionate and just, loving and holy, wrathful and forgiving. WE can't sideline His more difficult attributes to make room for the palatable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-chan/god-is-compassionate-and-just-loving-and-holy-wrathful-and-forgiving/) [Francis Chan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-chan/) > [One of the greatest attributes of jazz, I think, is that it is that open.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbie-hancock/one-of-the-greatest-attributes-of-jazz-i-think-is-that-it-is-that-open/) [Herbie Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbie-hancock/) > [A lover asked his beloved, Do you love yourself more than you love me? Beloved replied, I have died to myself and I live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-lover-asked-his-beloved-do-you-love-yourself-more-than-you-love-me/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I think the greatest imagination we can exercise is one that imagines how someone else feels. Because you know how you feel, but so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-gelbart/i-think-the-greatest-imagination-we-can-exercise-is-one-that-imagines/) [Larry Gelbart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-gelbart/) > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [If, for instance, they have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to a semi-official statement; if they have fallen into conversation with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-waugh/if-for-instance-they-have-heard-something-from-the-postman-they/) [Evelyn Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-waugh/) > [Lutherans, whose arguments and mistakes will not be difficult to contest or discover, do not want to attribute any value to works, and they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-servetus/lutherans-whose-arguments-and-mistakes-will-not-be-difficult-to/) [Michael Servetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-servetus/) ## More by Michel Foucault > [One should try to locate power at the extreme of its exercise, where it is always less legal in character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-should-try-to-locate-power-at-the-extreme-of-its-exercise-where/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [The book is not simply the object that one holds in one's hands, and it cannot remain within the little parallelpiped that contains it:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-book-is-not-simply-the-object-that-one-holds-in-one-s-hands-and/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment – mere loss of liberty – has never functioned without a certain additional element of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-even-imprisonment-mere-loss-of/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Death left its old tragic heaven and became the lyrical core of man: his invisible truth, his visible secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/death-left-its-old-tragic-heaven-and-became-the-lyrical-core-of-man/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [I'm no prophet. 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We know 'as a result of more than three thousand years of experience that Myrrh and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-preferred-medications-were-those-that-forestalled-corruption-we/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“The man described for us, whom we are invited to free, is already in himself the effect of a subjection much more profound than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-man-described-for-us-whom-we-are-invited-to-free-is-already-in/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“Confined on the ship, from which there is no escape, the madman is delivered to the river with its thousand arms, the sea with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/confined-on-the-ship-from-which-there-is-no-escape-the-madman-is/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Believe what is productive is not sedentary but nomadic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/believe-what-is-productive-is-not-sedentary-but-nomadic/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Are the prisons overpopulated, or is the population over-imprisoned ?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/are-the-prisons-overpopulated-or-is-the-population-over-imprisoned/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [An American professor complained that a crypto-Marxist like me was invited in the USA, and I was denounced by the press in Eastern European…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/an-american-professor-complained-that-a-crypto-marxist-like-me-was/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Withdraw allegiance from the old categories of the Negative (law, limit, castration, lack, lacuna), which the Western thought has so long held sacred as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/withdraw-allegiance-from-the-old-categories-of-the-negative-law-limit/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) [Explore all 272 Michel Foucault quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## More Attributes quotes > [Lutherans, whose arguments and mistakes will not be difficult to contest or discover, do not want to attribute any value to works, and they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-servetus/lutherans-whose-arguments-and-mistakes-will-not-be-difficult-to/) [Michael Servetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-servetus/) > [If, for instance, they have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to a semi-official statement; if they have fallen into conversation with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-waugh/if-for-instance-they-have-heard-something-from-the-postman-they/) [Evelyn Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-waugh/) > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I think the greatest imagination we can exercise is one that imagines how someone else feels. Because you know how you feel, but so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-gelbart/i-think-the-greatest-imagination-we-can-exercise-is-one-that-imagines/) [Larry Gelbart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-gelbart/) > [A lover asked his beloved, Do you love yourself more than you love me? Beloved replied, I have died to myself and I live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-lover-asked-his-beloved-do-you-love-yourself-more-than-you-love-me/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One of the greatest attributes of jazz, I think, is that it is that open.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbie-hancock/one-of-the-greatest-attributes-of-jazz-i-think-is-that-it-is-that-open/) [Herbie Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbie-hancock/) > [God is compassionate and just, loving and holy, wrathful and forgiving. 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I just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-wilbon/if-i-have-any-attribute-that-serves-me-well-it-s-i-don-t-have-a-long/) [Michael Wilbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-wilbon/) [Browse all 852 Attributes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attributes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michel Foucault" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-structure-neither-is-it-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Attributes" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-structure-neither-is-it-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/873/michel-foucault-1134_attributes_power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-st_2952297.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/873/michel-foucault-1134_attributes_power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-st_2952297.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/873/michel-foucault-1134_attributes_power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-st_2952297.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it…” — Michel Foucault", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Michel Foucault", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Power is not an institution, and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-structure-neither-is-it-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/power-is-not-an-institution-and-not-a-structure-neither-is-it-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```