Foucault Discipline And Punish Sparknotes

Michel Foucault’s book entitled Discipline and Punish, which was published in 1975, provided a new approach to the way historians approach not only the historical field but the philosophical approach to the history of power controls. Foucault’s thesis is that the modern prison provides a model for other institutions in a disciplinary society in which the transition into the age of modernity has caused institutions to be compelled to control the time of the individual. Foucault does this through four sections in which he explains the transformation in the usage of power as well as space. Foucault is trying to answer the question of how did the modern prison system alter the power relationship between individuals and the overall and discipline
His uprising came from an affluent family which provided him with an adequate education. He had a troubled youth and struggled with his homosexuality in a country like France, which was less accepting during that specific era of time. The topic of Discipline and Punish is framed around the formation of the contemporary prison in the classical period of early 17th and the late 19th century. The book is broken down into four parts with subsequent chapters. The four parts are thematically represented by torture, punishment, discipline, and punishment. In doing so, Foucault proposes a new theoretical approach to modern power relationships that exist. By tracing the historical evolution of the modern prison, Foucault correlates its impact on other social institutions like schools, hospitals, workplaces, and factories. To Foucault, power is discipline and not something that is only promoted or given to the government, wealthy, or kings. In doing so, power relationships exist amongst every facet of human life and relationships. To illustrate Foucault’s example we see the examples of, teacher and student, government and citizen, parent and child. Power is used and given away throughout our