#21 in Popular science
Discipline and Punish
- 333
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- International Sociological Association Books of the Century
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Our view
With “Discipline and Punish”, Michel Foucault writes a bold history of how punishment moved from the scaffold to the watchful routine of the prison. Working from French records, he argues that humanitarian reform alone does not explain the prison’s rise, and finds the same disciplining power in schools, hospitals and barracks. Some readers find the prose dry or dense without a grounding in philosophy or law, yet still hard to put down.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison is a 1975 book by French philosopher Michel Foucault. It is an analysis of the social and theoretical mechanisms behind the changes that occurred in Western penal systems during the modern age based on historical documents from France. Foucault argues that prison did not become the principal form of punishment just because of the humanitarian concerns of reformists. He traces the cultural shifts that led to the predominance of prison via the body and power. Prison is used by the "disciplines" – new technological powers that can also be found, according to Foucault, in places such as schools, hospitals, and military barracks.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.3 across 94 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 39% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Popular science average of 8.3. That is how 8.3 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.5 | 13 | 14% |
| Google Books | 8.0 | 14 | 15% |
| Hardcover | 8.4 | 67 | 71% |
Frequently asked
How long is Discipline and Punish?
It has 333 pages — shorter than 52% of the ranked books in Popular science.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Popular science — with scores between 8.3 and 8.4, closest to this book.
