- Lived:
- 1926–1984 · Poitiers, Paris, Uppsala, Tunis, Berkeley
- Tradition:
- French post-structuralism; the historian-philosopher of power and the subject
- The Big Idea:
- Power doesn't just forbid things — it produces things: knowledge, institutions, norms, even the "self" you think you are. To understand who you are, write the history of how you were made.
- In their words:
- "Where there is power, there is resistance."
- If you remember one thing:
- The prison, the clinic, the school, and the confession all look like neutral fixtures of life. Foucault showed each one has a history, an agenda, and a shaping grip on you — and that what has been made can be remade.