Person

Michel Foucault

Historian and philosopher of power, knowledge, and institutions—discipline, surveillance, and how subjects are formed.

Why this matters

Foucault sharpens readings of how systems shape visibility, compliance, and what counts as normal.

Works

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Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

Foucault, Michel. *Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison*. Translated by Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage Books, 1977.

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Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977

Foucault, Michel. *Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977*. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.

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"Society Must Be Defended": Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975–76

Foucault, Michel. *"Society Must Be Defended": Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975–76*. New York: Picador, 2003.

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The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences

Foucault, Michel. *The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences*. New York: Pantheon Books, 1970.

Related books

Book

Living in Sediment

How Structures Outlive Their Reasons

We live inside inherited systems built for constraints that no longer exist. When structures survive after their reasons disappear, meaning drifts—and the danger is forgetting the sediment is sediment.

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When Interpretation No Longer Matters

Authority After Understanding Collapses

When explanation, evidence, and repair fail—and what kinds of authority remain when public understanding collapses.