الخضوع الحقيقي يولد آليًا من علاقة وهمية [...] فمن يخضع لمجال للرؤية، ويدرك ذلك، يتحمّل مسؤولية قيود السلطة؛ يجعلها تعمل تلقائيًا عليه؛ يُدخل في ذاته علاقة القوة التي يلعب فيها الدورين معًا؛ يصير مبدأ خضوعه لذاته.

“A real subjection is born mechanically from a fictitious relation [...] He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribed in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection.”Michel Foucault