Discipline  Punish, Michel Foucault
Discipline  Punish, Michel Foucault
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Discipline & Punish
The Birth of the Prison

Author: Michel Foucault

Narrator: Simon Prebble

Unabridged: 6 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/23/2013


Synopsis

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a man condemned of attempting to assassinate the King of France was drawn and quartered in a grisly spectacle that suggested an unmediated duel between the violence of the criminal and the violence of the state. This groundbreaking book by Michel Foucault, the most influential philosopher since Sartre, compels us to reevaluate our assumptions about all the ensuing reforms in the penal institutions of the West. For as Foucault examines innovations that range from the abolition of torture to the institution of forced labor and the appearance of the modern penitentiary, he suggests that punishment has shifted its focus from the prisoner's body to his soul—and that our very concern with rehabilitation encourages and refines criminal activity.

Lucidly reasoned and deftly marshaling a vast body of research, Discipline and Punish is a genuinely revolutionary book, whose implications extend beyond the prison to the minute power relations of our society.

About Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a French philosopher, historian, social theorist, and philologist. He lectured in universities throughout the world; served as the director at the Institut Francais in Hamburg, Germany, and at the Institute de Philosophie at the Faculte des Lettres in the University of Clermont-Ferrand, France; and wrote frequently for French newspapers and reviews. At the time of his death in 1984, he held a chair at France's most prestigious institution, the College de France.One of the leading intellectuals of the twentieth century and the most prominent thinker in post-war France, Foucault's work influenced disciplines as diverse as history, sociology, philosophy, sociology, and literary criticism. His works include The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences; Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason; and Death and the Labyrinth: The World of Raymond Roussel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kevin on January 13, 2024

Under (social) construction… Preamble: ...Forgive the pun. This review is merely a reminder for when I revisit this book, although it continues to sink under new priorities. --I read this book early on (thank goodness in a reading group) when I had limited critical historical foundations: 1) From Defau......more

Goodreads review by Abubakar on May 05, 2016

Foucault begins this book by recounting the fate of a man called Damien the regicide, who attempted to assassinate King Louis XV of France in 1757. He was publicly tortured for hours, beaten, stabbed and crushed only to be quartered by horses at last. Foucault says that Public executions and scenes......more

Goodreads review by Cat on August 22, 2007

I've read this book three times: First time was in undergraduate, second time was in law school, third time was last week. I can honestly say that my understanding of this work has grown with each reading, but that growth in comprehension has come more from my reading of other books either discussin......more