Discover new books on Goodreads

See if your friends have read any of Michel Foucault's books

more photos (1)

Michel Foucault’s Followers (6,777)

Add New
Videos

Add a comment

Michel Foucault

Born

in Poitiers, France

October 15, 1926

Died

June 25, 1984

Website

https://michel-foucault.com/

Genre

Philosophy, History, Social Sciences

Influences

Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gaston Bachelard, Roland Barthe ...more

edit data

Paul-Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationships between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions. Though often cited as a structuralist and postmodernist, Foucault rejected these labels. His thought has influenced academics, especially those working in communication studies, anthropology, psychology, sociology, criminology, cultural studies, literary theory, feminism, Marxism and critical theory.
Born in Poitiers, France, into an upper-middle-class family, Foucault was educated at the Lycée Henri-IV, at the École Normale Supérieure, where he developed an intere Paul-Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationships between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions. Though often cited as a structuralist and postmodernist, Foucault rejected these labels. His thought has influenced academics, especially those working in communication studies, anthropology, psychology, sociology, criminology, cultural studies, literary theory, feminism, Marxism and critical theory.
Born in Poitiers, France, into an upper-middle-class family, Foucault was educated at the Lycée Henri-IV, at the École Normale Supérieure, where he developed an interest in philosophy and came under the influence of his tutors Jean Hyppolite and Louis Althusser, and at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), where he earned degrees in philosophy and psychology. After several years as a cultural diplomat abroad, he returned to France and published his first major book, The History of Madness (1961). After obtaining work between 1960 and 1966 at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, he produced The Birth of the Clinic (1963) and The Order of Things (1966), publications that displayed his increasing involvement with structuralism, from which he later distanced himself. These first three histories exemplified a historiographical technique Foucault was developing called "archaeology".
From 1966 to 1968, Foucault lectured at the University of Tunis before returning to France, where he became head of the philosophy department at the new experimental university of Paris VIII. Foucault subsequently published The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969). In 1970, Foucault was admitted to the Collège de France, a membership he retained until his death. He also became active in several left-wing groups involved in campaigns against racism and human rights abuses and for penal reform. Foucault later published Discipline and Punish (1975) and The History of Sexuality (1976), in which he developed archaeological and genealogical methods that emphasized the role that power plays in society.
Foucault died in Paris from complications of HIV/AIDS; he became the first public figure in France to die from complications of the disease. His partner Daniel Defert founded the AIDES charity in his memory. ...more

Combine Editions
Michel Foucault’s books

Average rating: 4.1 · 148,895 ratings · 8,914 reviews · 794 distinct works • Similar authors

	Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison 4.23 avg rating — 38,174 ratings — published 1975 — 124 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction by Michel Foucault, Robert Hurley (Translator) 4.02 avg rating — 26,547 ratings — published 1976 — 97 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason 4.08 avg rating — 14,936 ratings — published 1961 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences 4.12 avg rating — 9,747 ratings — published 1966 — 121 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Archaeology of Knowledge and The Discourse on Language by Michel Foucault, Alan Sheridan (Translator) 4.11 avg rating — 7,516 ratings — published 1969 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The History of Sexuality, Volume 2: The Use of Pleasure by Michel Foucault, Robert Hurley (Translator), Zlatko Wurzberg (Translator) 4.06 avg rating — 4,633 ratings — published 1984 — 74 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	This Is Not a Pipe by Michel Foucault, James Harkness (Translator) 3.83 avg rating — 3,321 ratings — published 1968 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977 by Michel Foucault, Colin Gordon (Editor/Translator), Leo Marshall (Translator) 4.14 avg rating — 3,037 ratings — published 1977 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976 by Michel Foucault, David Macey (Translator) 4.29 avg rating — 2,909 ratings — published 1976 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The History of Sexuality, Volume 3: The Care of the Self by Michel Foucault, Robert Hurley (Translator) 4.02 avg rating — 2,902 ratings — published 1984 — 60 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Michel Foucault…

Series by Michel Foucault

The History of Sexuality (5 books)
by

Michel Foucault,

Robert Hurley (Translator),

Frédéric Gros (Editor)

4.02 avg rating — 34,380 ratings

Cours au Collège de France/Lectures at the Collège de France (13 books)
by

Michel Foucault,

Graham Burchell (Translator),

Michel Senellart (Editor),

François Ewald (Editor),

Alessandro Fontana (Editor),

Arnold I. Davidson (Editor)

4.28 avg rating — 9,943 ratings

Essential Works of Foucault (1954-1984) (3 books)
by

Michel Foucault,

Robert Hurley (Translator),

James D. Faubion (Editor)

4.22 avg rating — 1,681 ratings

Dits et écrits (6 books)
by

Michel Foucault,

Işık Ergüden (Translator)

4.30 avg rating — 223 ratings

Ditos e Escritos (10 books)
by

Michel Foucault

4.74 avg rating — 72 ratings

More series by Michel Foucault…

Quotes by Michel Foucault (?)

“People know what they do; frequently they know why they do what they do; but what they don't know is what what they do does.”
― Michel Foucault, Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason

1039 likes

“I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am. The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning.”
― Michel Foucault

738 likes

“Where there is power, there is resistance.”
― Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction

tags: activism, leftism, power, resistance

602 likes

See all Michel Foucault's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
100+ Books in 2026: Meghan's 2010 List	100	452	Dec 31, 2010 11:37PM
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2012 Reading Plans	49	318	Apr 14, 2012 03:24PM
Aussie Readers: November Challenge - Young Adult plus TBR	213	137	Dec 08, 2012 02:30AM
The History Book ...: ARCHIVE ONE: PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF ~	6550	4424	May 08, 2013 03:33PM
The Next Best Boo...: The Title Game	20218	14624	May 30, 2013 12:53PM
Aussie Readers: Please Help - Need Recommendations	1	54	Jun 01, 2013 04:01AM
SciFi and Fantasy...: Please Help - Need Recommendations	1	52	Jun 01, 2013 04:48AM
readers advisory ...: Please Help - Need Recommendations	5	52	Jun 01, 2013 10:07PM

More…

Michel Foucault’s Followers (6,777)

Add NewVideos

Michel Foucault

Combine EditionsMichel Foucault’s books

Series by Michel Foucault

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

Combine Editions
Michel Foucault’s books