PostScript on the Societies of Control – Gilles Deleuze (1990) [pdf]
Gilles Deleuze argues that disciplinary societies (Foucault) have given way to "societies of control," where power modulates continuously through networks and data rather than enclosed institutions. Control replaces the individual with the "dividual" and uses short-term, endless variation to manage populations.
Background
Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995) was a major French philosopher. This short 1990 essay is one of his most influential. He argues that Western societies shifted from "disciplinary societies" (Foucault's model: prisons, factories, schools that enclose and shape you) to "societies of control," where power is continuous, fluid, and network-based — corporate management, databases, passwords, lifelong training, electronic tracking. Key ideas: factory replaced by corporation (flexible competition vs. mass production), signature replaced by code/password, mold replaced by modulation (continuous adjustment). The essay presciently described digital surveillance, algorithmic sorting, and the gig economy before the internet existed.