How Society Trains You to Obey

This is NOT an online meeting but an in-person meeting.
Reading the book is not required but strongly advised

During the book discussion the leader of the discussion presents the most interesting parts of the book. The great emphasis is placed on discussion.

Book Description

Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison by Michael Foucalult will be discussed during the meeting.

Modern surveillance didn’t begin with cameras or algorithms. It began with ideas. In Discipline and Punish, French philosopher and social theorist Michel Foucault reveals how concepts that once seemed unthinkable can, within a relatively short time range, become social norms. How do methods developed in one area of life transcend their original context and be effectively applied in another? Why should one never work above 50-60% of their natural capacity in corporation? How did surveillance evolve into a subtle form of punishment and social control?

Join us to discuss how discipline shapes the way we live, work, and see ourselves today.

Futher Reading:

• Bentham, Jeremy. The Panopticon Writings. Wo es war, 1995.
• Schwan, Anne, and Stephen Shapiro. How to Read Foucault’s Discipline and Punish. How to Read Theory. Pluto Press, 2011.
• Wikipedia. “Foucault-Habermas-Debatte.” March 6, 2025. https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Foucault-Habermas-Debatte&oldid=253943071 (Postmodernism vs. Morednism)
• Zuboff, Shoshana. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. First trade paperback edition. PublicAffairs, 2020.