Custom «Michel Foucault» Essay Paper Sample

Foucault is well known best known writer for his critical analysis and studies of social institutions. His work are in psychiatry, medicine, and other the human sciences. He has also written works on prison systems, and the history of human sexuality. It is however his works on power, knowledge, and discourse that has given him the prestigious position as a scholar and made him influential in academics.

The works in this chapter are based on the introduction to Foucault's theoretical contributions and sport scholarship. It discusses how he views the modern power and especially the terms that are important when considering the way that modern power is applied and put into operation. The terms include those that are based around panopticism or discipline such as liberalism, surveillance, liberal individual, micro-physics of power, subjection, technology, automatic docility, docile bodies, normalization, dividing practices, self/other, corporeal identities, visible/invisible, violence, prison and the soul.

Other terms that are used include bio-power/govern mentality (repressive hypothesis, truth, bio-politics, power over life, sexuality, racism, and population, and self-betterment, biological incitement to discourse, conduct of conduct, neo-liberalism, and citizenship. The chapter goes on to discuss the ways that the way power is perceived is influenced by each of the factors above. Its noted that some of these are the basis upon which power is allocated in the society and other will lead to discrimination such as discriminating based on sex that was very evident in the greater part of the 19^th centaury and when women did not even have voting powers. The question of liberalism and people's freedom features prominently in the chapter.