Discipline and Punish (1975) : An Abridged Analysis of Power Anonymous College

Michael Foucault, a French social theorist, believed that power and knowledge are used as a form of control in social institutions. In his book entitled "Discipline and Punish : The Birth of the Prison," he describes how every level of the prison, from the social stigma all the way to the physical architecture determines the prisoner, and his/her relationship to their surroundings. By comparing them to an isolated town with a rampant virus loose inside, he is able to draw connections which allow people to see the social isolation, yet social immersion and interaction which occurs in multi-faceted layers within the system itself.

Foucault begins his chapter with “measures to be taken” against the plague in a town, and includes the quarantine and isolation of the town with closed areas and frequent inspections. Any guardian who leaves their post will be executed, and the houses are locked from the outside every night to ensure that nobody could potentially spread the illness. All food is rationed, and nonessential food (bread and wine) are shared between houses by pulleys and baskets. Nobody but the guards are free to move in the street, and those who are “of little substance” carry the sick and dead bodies and are left to die...