(Abstract Only)

How does the penal state produce those agents that will proficiently and efficiently wield the the physical force whose legitimate use it purports to monopolize? Drawing on the early results of an ongoing carnal ethnography of the crafting of police officers in a Bay Area police academy, I describe and analyze the concrete drills, pedagogical tasks and techniques, group activities and individual ordeals through which recruits imbibe and gradually embody the mix of technical knowledge, moral sensibilities, collective emotions, and personal desires that make them competent candidates to the exercise of police authority.