Michel Paul Foucault(1926-1984)
Foucault was a structuralist and later
Post-Structuralist theorist noted
for his examinition of the codes by which societies operate. Foucault
used the method of Deconstructive
Criticism to analyse power relationships.
History
Foucault studied under the Marxist Philosopher Althusser at the Ecole Normale Superieure
(read with many accents) in Paris. He taught at the University of
Clermont-Ferrand and at the University of Paris-Vincennes. From 1970
until his death, he was a professor at the College de France.
Movements
Structuralism
Post-Structuralism
Writings
- In several works, including Folie and deraison: histoire de
la folie a l'age classique (1961; Madness and Civilization) and Surveilleur et punir: naissance de la prison (1975: Discipline
and Punish: The Birth of the Prison), Foucault theorizes that
institutions such as asylums, hospitals, and prisons are society's
devices for exclusion and that by surveying social attitudes in relation
to these institutions one can examine the development and uses of power.
- His three volume work Histoire de la
sexualite(1976-1984; History of Sexuality) examines the history
of Western attitudes toward sexuality since the ancient Greeks.
Among Foucault's other other works are:
- Les mots et les choses: une archeology des sciences humaines
(1966: The Order of Things: An Archeology of Human Sciences) and
- L'Archeologie du savior (1969: The Archeology of
Knowledge)
Influential People
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