For many centuries, the issues of power, politics, and state have been widely discussed in scientific literature. Developing theories, philosophers proceeded from the side of hierarchical affiliation of power, which is confirmed in theological and biological concepts. Relevance of the presented article is conditioned by the fact that for the first time the French philosopher M. Foucault has offered innovative ideas of power concept from the social point of view. M. Foucault’s works are of significant importance for modern researchers in various branches of science since he created a universal tool for the study of social relations. The objective of this study entails conducting a thorough examination of the development of his theory, as well as exploring diverse perspectives presented by scholars on this matter. The result of the research was a full-fledged analysis of the “power” category from the position of a comprehensive phenomenon, which penetrates the whole structure of the state, and not only selected organs or institutions. The main conclusion of the paper is that “power” is a complex social phenomenon that cannot be equated with categories such as “law”, “discipline”, “subordination”, or “punishment”.

许多世纪以来，科学文献中广泛讨论了权力、政治和国家问题。哲学家们从权力的等级隶属关系出发发展理论，这一点在神学和生物学概念中得到了证实。本文的相关性取决于以下事实：法国哲学家福柯首次从社会角度提出了权力概念的创新思想。福柯先生的著作对于现代各个科学领域的研究人员都具有重要意义，因为他创造了研究社会关系的通用工具。这项研究的目的是对他的理论的发展进行彻底的审查，并探索学者们对此问题提出的不同观点。研究的结果是从综合现象的角度对“权力”范畴进行了全面的分析，它渗透到国家的整个结构，而不仅仅是选定的机关或机构。论文的主要结论是，“权力”是一种复杂的社会现象，不能等同于“法律”、“纪律”、“服从”或“惩罚”等范畴。