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Comment by syndacks | Hacker News Reader

Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault fundamentally changed the way I look at things like school and work. Essentially, they're systems of discipline and control masquerading as something very different. Skip all the Malcom Gladwell crap and read some real philosophy. It's hard but rewarding.

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There are many people who would claim that he isn't a real philosopher ;) Don't skip Max Weber and Georges Canguilhem, two of his biggest influences.

Great book. The current situation certainly brings his ideas to mind. While it may well be justified, the speed and ease with which many open, democratic societies have gone into strictly enforced Italy/Spain-style lockdowns (essentially crisis-driven totalitarianism), shows us how thin the veneer of freedom really is, and how seamlessly our institutions can be made to serve the "carceral state".

I would recommend Madness and Civilization from the same author, in a similar vein. Similar to prisons, society needs hospitals to house the sick, so that the "sane" ones have somewhere they can point to and say, "Those are the sick ones, over there". It's a good argument on distancing one's self from the other, in order to maintain a feeling of superiority.

absolutely. control is endemic and insidious and why we build systems in the first place. they’re also necessary for societies to reach greater achievements.

it’s elucidating but foucault is wildly convoluted in his writing unfortunately.

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