Discipline & Punish summary

Introduction

Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault Prisons are not just a legal system component, but a reflection of societal power. Have you ever considered the true purpose of prisons? They seem like an unremarkable part of our legal system today. But Michel Foucault argues this is not the case.

Only a few hundred years ago, the picture was very different. Suspects were routinely tortured during investigations. Convicted felons were cruelly executed in public. These acts served as examples to the people.

They also demonstrated a sovereign's will. These chapters trace the emergence of the prison. They depict the changing industrial age influenced by Enlightenment ideas. Societal needs and values underwent a radical transformation.

But this is Foucault, so there is a twist. We should not pat ourselves on the back. Punishment did not just get more humane. The change reflected a more pervasive system of control.

Society became increasingly organized through institutions of discipline. Understanding how prisons function is vital. We can then begin to understand society's very foundations today.

Shifting from Body to Soul

Shifting from Body to Soul. In the 19th century, public punishment of the body gave way to private punishment of the soul. On 2 March 1757, the streets of Paris witnessed a ghastly spectacle. Robert François Damien, a domestic servant, was publicly executed before a baying mob.

This was for his attempt to assassinate the French king Louis XV. Indeed, Damien was to be quartered. His limbs were pulled by four horses, driven in opposite directions. But the arms and legs refused to detach, and they stayed on Damien's torso.

The executioner drew out his knife. He sheared through the tendons and tissue. Then the horses completed the dismemberment. This execution was the last of its kind.

By the turn of the 19th century in Europe, punishment as a public spectacle was no longer in vogue. In its place, a new approach to punishment became the norm. Now, it was to take place behind closed doors. Its workings were set to a timetable.

Fewer than 100 years after Damien was executed, a new penal style emerged. This new penal style was codified in 19th century texts. One example is French politician L . A.

on Faudier's Rules for the House of Young Prisoners in Paris. The prisoners began at five in the morning. They were woken by repeated cracks on a drum. By quarter to six, they were at work.

They were fed at ten in the morning. Teaching began at twenty minutes to eleven. From one o 'clock until seven, that was another period of work. Then, at half past seven, the cells were locked for a night curfew.

Such a regimen indicated the nature of punishment had changed. It was no longer a public display of sovereign power. Punishment became standardized through imprisonment and strict routines. Where corporal punishment and physical pain had once been central, punishment now focused on discipline and reform.

Now the soul of the criminal was deemed much more important. It is very easy to think, as many historians have, that this represents some sort of development. The declining severity of punishment indicates a humane advance. But the author thinks they have the wrong end of the stick.

The purpose of punishment had changed. The objective was no longer to break the criminal's body. It was now to target hearts and minds. It targeted thoughts and will.