FOUCAULT, Michel Paul, (1926-1984), French philosopher and sexologist. Professor of the history of systems of thought, Collège de France (from 1970); a leading French intellectual. Works included Madness and Civilisation (1961), a study of madness and its treatment in the 17th century; Discipline and Punish (1975), on the modern penal system; and a three-volume history of sexuality (1976-84).
Post-structuralists and postmodernists