Power/Knowledge

Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977

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Edited and with an afterword by Colin Gordon.  In this set of essays and interviews, Foucault interprets his writings on such themes as sexuality, politics, and punishment, stressing the contribution of each to the magnificent--and terrifying--portrait of society that he is compiling.  As Foucault shows, what he has always been describing is the nature of power in society; not the conventional treatment of power that concentrates on powerful individuals and repressive institutions, but the more pervasive and insidious mechanisms by which power "reaches into the very grain of individuals, touches their bodies and inserts itself into their actions and attitudes, their discourses, learning processes and everyday lives."  Translated by Colin Gordon, Leo Marshall, John Mepham, and Kate Soper.
© Jacques Haillot L'Express, Camera Press London

MICHEL FOUCAULT, one of the leading philosophical thinkers of the 20th century, was born in Poitiers, France, in 1926. He lectured in universities throughout the world; served as director at the Institut Français in Hamburg, Germany and at the Institut de Philosophie at the Faculté des Lettres in the University of Clermont-Ferrand, France; and wrote frequently for French newspapers and reviews. His influence on generations of thinkers in the areas of sociology, queer theory, cultural studies, and critical thinking are not to be underestimated. Among his many books were the Foucault Reader, Society Must Be Defended, and Great Ideas.

At the time of his death in June 1984, he held a chair at France's most prestigious institutions, the Collège de France. Foucault was the first public figure in France to die from HIV/AIDS.

View titles by Michel Foucault

About

Edited and with an afterword by Colin Gordon.  In this set of essays and interviews, Foucault interprets his writings on such themes as sexuality, politics, and punishment, stressing the contribution of each to the magnificent--and terrifying--portrait of society that he is compiling.  As Foucault shows, what he has always been describing is the nature of power in society; not the conventional treatment of power that concentrates on powerful individuals and repressive institutions, but the more pervasive and insidious mechanisms by which power "reaches into the very grain of individuals, touches their bodies and inserts itself into their actions and attitudes, their discourses, learning processes and everyday lives."  Translated by Colin Gordon, Leo Marshall, John Mepham, and Kate Soper.

Author

© Jacques Haillot L'Express, Camera Press London

MICHEL FOUCAULT, one of the leading philosophical thinkers of the 20th century, was born in Poitiers, France, in 1926. He lectured in universities throughout the world; served as director at the Institut Français in Hamburg, Germany and at the Institut de Philosophie at the Faculté des Lettres in the University of Clermont-Ferrand, France; and wrote frequently for French newspapers and reviews. His influence on generations of thinkers in the areas of sociology, queer theory, cultural studies, and critical thinking are not to be underestimated. Among his many books were the Foucault Reader, Society Must Be Defended, and Great Ideas.

At the time of his death in June 1984, he held a chair at France's most prestigious institutions, the Collège de France. Foucault was the first public figure in France to die from HIV/AIDS.

View titles by Michel Foucault

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