Portrait of Michel Foucault
Radical left · Thinker or writer · From history

Michel Foucault

French philosopher, 1926 to 1984

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Studied how power works through prisons, clinics and schools, and how institutions shape what counts as normal, inspiring critical theories of state and knowledge.

Michel Foucault sits in the left-libertarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: leaning state-led and strongly libertarian. The clearest positions are strongly libertarian on liberty and authority, strongly anti-establishment on institutions and strongly progressive on culture.

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Where Michel Foucault sits on ten dimensions

Each scale runs from one pole to the other, and the dot shows the overall tendency of this person's record and public life. These are simplified estimates and open to debate.

💰EconomyLeaning state-led
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityStrongly libertarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureStrongly progressive
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationLeaning globalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentSlightly nature-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologyLeaning tech-cautious
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceLeaning peace-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsStrongly anti-establishment
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionLeaning secular
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismSlightly non-interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

People most like Michel Foucault

Angela Davis American philosopher and activist98%Judith Butler American philosopher and gender theorist98%Ai Weiwei Chinese artist and dissident98%Edward Said Palestinian-American scholar, 1935 to 200397%Charlie Chaplin British-born actor and filmmaker, 1889 to 197797%Albert Camus French-Algerian writer, 1913 to 196096%Colin Kaepernick American football player and activist96%Ta-Nehisi Coates American author and journalist96%

People furthest from Michel Foucault

Louis XIV King of France, 1643 to 17151%Mojtaba Khamenei Supreme Leader of Iran, 2026 to present2%Joseph de Maistre Savoyard counter-revolutionary thinker, 1753 to 18212%Vladimir Putin President of Russia, 2000 to present (with a term as prime minister)3%

Political views closest to Michel Foucault

Critical theoryExamines how power, class, race and gender shape institutions and ideas, and aims to…98%MutualismA market-based anarchism in which workers and small producers trade fairly through…98%Anarcho-syndicalismWorkers organize in revolutionary unions that take over industry and run society without…97%Radical democracyWants more direct participation in decisions, through assemblies, referendums and…97%

Read more about Michel Foucault

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Biographies of Michel FoucaultBooks on critical theory

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Percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions. Including a person here is for study and comparison, not approval. Portrait: Jerry Bauer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.