Michel Foucault

Born

October 15, 1926

Died

June 25, 1984 (aged 57)

Known as

anthropologist, psychologist, historian, writer, sociologist, professor

Paul-Michel Foucault, known as Michel Foucault, was a French philosopher, literary critic, and historian of ideas who analyzed the relationships between power, knowledge, and liberty, and how they are used as a form of social control through institutions. Sometimes called a structuralist or postmodernist, he rejected these labels and sought to critique authority without limiting himself. His thought has influenced academics in many areas of study, including anthropology, communication studies, criminology, cultural studies, feminism, literary theory, psychology, and sociology. His arguments against homophobia, racial prejudice, and other ideological doctrines have also shaped scholarship on critical theory and Marxism.

Biography from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.