The main characteristics of the analysis of the pastorate according to Michel Foucault are reviewed, following the indication that in such pastoral practices, the antecedents of the modern government technologies typical of liberalism would be recorded, that is, disciplinary and regulatory technologies. The article proposes that such analysis shows us that between obedience and fervent adherence -as effects of conduct produced by the pastorate- a field of political analysis of great relevance for the modern context is demarcated: the field of consent. This field of analysis, although not made explicit by Foucault, can be identified in his analysis of conduct in the pastoral technology and its relationship with certain conditions of freedom. This scheme would allow us to move from consent in pastoral technology to political consent in liberal government regimes as the basis of the governmental relationship of the population.