Introduction 2
Brief Overview 2
Main arguments of discipline and Punish 4
• Power 4
• Prisons as part of civilisation 4
• Punishment 5
• The Body and Soul 5
Evaluation of Discipline and Punish 6
Conclusion 7 Introduction:
M. Foucault. 1975. Discipline and Punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Random House Inc.
Below is an in depth book review of Discipline and Punish, The Birth of the Prison. The author who compiled the analysis on this is Michel Foucault, whom provided enlightenment on many different aspects of sociology and philosophy- many which are still immensely relevant to societies today.
I will be using this book review to channel an outline of Foucault’s work, viewpoints and purposes as such. Along with this I will include my personal critique of my literary experience of the book. I will consider important factors of logic, coherence, evidence, expertise and originality. These specified fields are all crucial to useful and meaningful sociological theories. In brief, my aim is to clarify the argument presented by Foucault and provide my account of its validity.
Brief Overview:
Michel Foucault’s, Discipline and Punish, provides the reader of the historical timeline which ends at the institution of imprisonment that most modern societies have adopted today. The just of his intentions for the book are presented in the first section. Much of this includes his aim which is to trace the penal system back to its roots in order to define and identify its significance in the present.
These roots begin in the seventeenth century. Here public torture and execution prevailed as the form of punishment. As aspects of society changed, especially power structures, so did this system of punishment- much like in an evolutionary manner. At this point it is probably important to highlight that a better alternative to the concept of the penal timeline, is rather a cycle- thus making visible the state it was in at birth and