influenced era article_title region
edward dreyfus paul rabinow jacques rancière félix guattari giorgio agamben antonio said negri judith butler ian hacking talal asad pierre bourdieu gilles deleuze david halperin hubert 20th-century philosophy michel foucault
 western philosophy
michel foucault

michel foucault -lrb- ; born paul-michel foucault -rrb- -lrb- 15 october 1926 -- 25 june 1984 -rrb- was a french philosopher , historian of ideas , social theorist , philologist and literary critic .
his theories addressed the relationship between power and knowledge , and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions .
though often cited as a post-structuralist and postmodernist , foucault rejected these labels , preferring to present his thought as a critical history of modernity .
his thought has been highly influential both for academic and for activist groups , such as within post-anarchism .
born in poitiers , france , into an upper-middle-class family , foucault was educated at the lycée henri-iv and then at the École normale supérieure , where he developed an interest in philosophy and came under the influence of his tutors jean hyppolite and louis althusser .
after several years as a cultural diplomat abroad , he returned to france and published his first major book , `` the history of madness '' .
after obtaining work between 1960 and 1966 at the university of clermont-ferrand , he produced two more significant publications , `` the birth of the clinic '' and `` the order of things '' , which displayed his increasing involvement with structuralism , a theoretical movement in social anthropology from which he later distanced himself .
these first three histories exemplified a historiographical technique foucault was developing called `` archaeology '' -lrb- not to be confused with the academic discipline of archaeology -rrb- .
from 1966 to 1968 , foucault lectured at the university of tunis , tunisia , before returning to france , where he became head of the philosophy department at the new experimental university of paris viii .
in 1970 he was admitted to the collège de france , membership of which he retained until his death .
he also became active in a number of left-wing groups involved in anti-racist campaigns , anti-human rights abuses movements , and the struggle for penal reform .
he went on to publish `` the archaeology of knowledge '' , `` discipline and punish '' , and `` the history of sexuality '' .
in these books he developed archaeological and genealogical methods which emphasized the role which power plays in the evolution of discourse in society .
foucault died in paris of neurological problems compounded by hiv/aids ; he became the first public figure in france to die from the disease , and his partner daniel defert founded the aides charity in his memory .
