ABSTRACT
The organization was the field Foucault chose to establish philosophical concepts: the hospital, court, prison, school, and factory. For all practical purposes, organization is synonymous with management. It is not too fanciful to regard Foucault as a philosopher and historian of managing ourselves and each other. Foucault does not provide a social history of how, for instance, prisoners experienced incarceration or of the relationship between political priorities and penal realities. Nor does he offer an intellectual history of prison governance. Rather, Foucault uses specific histories to trace specific ways of governing an institution. Following Foucault, political, organizational, and hierarchical structures do not reflect or underwrite a power relationship but constitute the mechanics of power.
