Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault (1926–1984) was a French philosopher and historian of ideas whose work examined how knowledge, institutions, and power shape what societies consider normal, rational, or true. Among his major studies are Madness and Civilization (1961), Discipline and Punish (1975), and the multi-volume The History of Sexuality, the first volume of which appeared in 1976. He held the chair in the History of Systems of Thought at the Collège de France from 1970 until his death. His analyses of power, discourse, and the body have had a lasting influence on history, sociology, literary theory, and cultural studies.