Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

This book by French philosopher Michel Foucault is a seminal study of the historical emergence of the penal system and the transformation of power mechanisms in European society. The author analyzes the shift from public executions and corporal punishment to the modern prison system, grounded in surveillance and discipline. Foucault reveals how new techniques of control over the convict’s body and soul took shape, and how these practices spread to other social institutions.