Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow and Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish both outline the power structure surrounding crime and punishment in society over the course of history. Both Alexander and Foucault admit to a dispersion of power across all social institutions and exchanges. In other words, to both Foucault and (to a lesser extent) Alexander, power lacks a concentrated focal point and is instead pervasive in society. While Alexander does allude to power as a distributed force ...
Essays on Michel Foucault
Essay Examples
Essay Topics
Summaries
Reviews
Paul-Michel Foucault (15 October 1926 – 25 June 1984), usually known as Michel Foucault, was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, social theorist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions. Though often cited as a post-structuralist and postmodernist, Foucault rejected these labels, preferring to present his thought as a critical history of ...
Foucault writes in the introduction to the history of sexuality his desire for a general working hypothesis that would be different from the working hypothesis in the nineteenth century. He mentions that the society was a bourgeois, capitalist, and industrial society that did not confront sex with a fundamental refusal of recognition. Foucault mentions the kind of discourse put into operation by the society in the nineteenth century. The society, according to Foucault, compelled a uniform ...
The politics of gender and sexuality became increasingly prominent during the post-war and late-twentieth century periods both for women and society at large. How is this addressed in texts you have studied on this module?
Gender and sexuality have been fields of debate in the post war era that reflect the myriad of social, economic, political and intellectual changes that have shaped the western world from the 1950s onwards.
Postwar prosperity, a decline in pre war collectivism, the shift ...
In Discipline and Punish, 1974, Foucault pointed out there are three types of punishment from classical age to modern age. In the classical age, there are many countries of feudalism, like France, China, Korea, etc., that countries adopt the constitutional monarchy system. The King of those countries used to show the view of punishing prisoner to the citizen, which benefits the King to control his citizen through the visible pain of the body. In the late 18th century, the humanist carry out ...
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a 20th century French philosopher and historian. Despite encountering various obstacles throughout early stages of his career, such as suffering from horrible bouts of depression, Foucault in time became recognised as one of France’s most notable intellectuals. His work included the writings of many influential books on some of the west’s most powerful institutions, such as medicine, prisons and religion, as well as groundbreaking works on more abstract ...
According to Michel Foucault, there has been an emergence of a significant phenomenon in the nineteenth century, which he called 'power's hold over life' (1976:239). This contributes to a major shift in governmental power and how power is exercised over its population. This phenomenon has also occurred in different spheres of social and political life, which resulted in the State having a stronger hold over its population. Foucault (1976) formulated the expression of “governmentality'. Many ...
Crime is a calculated action that is against the law and can cause physical or mental harm, damage or loss to an individual or property . However, there is no easy way to explain the concept of crime. Crime is a deceiving concept as it covers a wide range of human behaviours. Crime may be identified in the mind of the public as small, lenient crimes such as shoplifting and breaking and entering, however, there are also corporate crimes such as a business official having a different legal ...
Foucault was French thinker, academic, philosopher, sociologist and psychologist who passed away in 1984. His works affected many academics and many thinkers even while he’s in life. According to Best and Kellner, Foucault’s work provides an innovative and comprehensive critique of modernity.’’ (1989, p. 37). So for understanding him, we have to look modernity and enlightenment as its historical progress.Modernity is a concept that developed in the Enlightenment era. In Enlightenment, the ...
In the world of theatre, it is the actor’s duty to not only bring the character that they were cast as to life, but to do so in a way that will please and entertain the faces that are watching them during their performances. However, every minute they spend on stage, the eyes that are judging them cannot be seen. Because of the way that the theatre is structured, the actor is confined in a designated area, with their vision being confined as well, and in a sense, they have no choice but to act ...
Manhood is something that the world struggles with. Being defined and seen from different points of view. Is it masculinity that is the problem or is it those trying to define it? Foucault and Kimmel may have two different points of views and may be from different time periods, but the similarities of the two are rather dire and noticeable.
Foucault's article describes the views and perspectives of masculinity through society's eyes. Foucault said, “ They were taught the art of power ...
Best topics on Michel Foucault
