Hidden Populations and the Gaze of Power

The “hidden population” of illicit drug users has recently attracted increased attention from public health research organizations. This article explores the ways in which the term hidden population is constructed using Foucault's metaphor of the gaze of power. I argue that the construction of the hidden population through the gaze of power is sustained through the rituals and rhetorics of examination of the hidden population. The rituals of examination include quantitative methods that aim to enumerate the hidden population, as well as qualitative methods that aim to provide a realist language for that which has previously been hidden. The rhetoric of examination is the language used to justify exposure of the hidden population. The political implications of this analysis are discussed in terms of a resistance to examination. The “agency” or “capacity for choice” on the part of the researchers and the researched to not take part in the gaze of power, or at least to have more control of their participation, is also discussed, with recent examples from the literature.