--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But a punishment like forced labour or…" description: "\"“But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment – mere loss of liberty – has never functioned without a certain additional element of punishm..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/michel-foucault-1134_corporal-punishment_but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-e_10203.jpg" --- # But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment –… ![“But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment – mere loss of liberty – has never functioned without a certain additional element of punishment that certainly concerns the body itself: rationing of food, sexual deprivation, corporal punishment, solitary confinement … There remains…” quote by Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/michel-foucault-1134_corporal-punishment_but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-e_10203.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/michel-foucault-1134_corporal-punishment_but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-e_10203.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/michel-foucault-1134_corporal-punishment_but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-e_10203.jpg) > ““But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment – mere loss of liberty – has never functioned without a certain additional element of punishment that certainly concerns the body itself: rationing of food, sexual deprivation, corporal punishment, solitary confinement … There remains, therefore, a trace of ‘torture’ in the modern mechanisms of criminal justice – a trace that has not been entirely overcome, but which is enveloped, increasingly, by the non-corporal nature of the penal system”” [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Modern penal systems still embed bodily suffering through indirect means, showing that punishment remains tied to physical control despite a shift toward non‑corporal sanctions. **In simple terms:** Punishment retains bodily harm even when overt cruelty is masked. Key Takeaway Physical coercion persists in subtle forms. Themes Power Control Punishment Human Rights Legal Systems Mood Critical Somber Reflective Type Philosophical Sociopolitical Critical When to use this quote - Criminal sentencing - Prison reform debates - Human rights investigations Key Concepts Torture Penal Theory State Violence Practical Applications - Designing humane correctional policies - Analyzing legal frameworks for abuse Questions to Reflect On - How do indirect punishments affect inmate well‑being? - Can a penal system ever fully eliminate bodily coercion? A Different Perspective Some argue that modern prisons are purely rehabilitative, overlooking systemic bodily harms. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Corporal punishment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corporal-punishment/) [Crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crime/) [Criminal justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criminal-justice/) [Imprisonment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imprisonment/) [Solitary confinement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/solitary-confinement/) [Torture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/torture/) ## Related quotes > [We fight for territory. We see it in our Congress, we see it in our political systems, we see it in our ways of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wynton-marsalis/we-fight-for-territory-we-see-it-in-our-congress-we-see-it-in-our/) [Wynton Marsalis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wynton-marsalis/) > [I worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week for years. Being a comic book artist is like sentencing yourself to life imprisonment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wally-wood/i-worked-12-hours-a-day-seven-days-a-week-for-years-being-a-comic/) Wally Wood > [Silence comes in two varieties: One that nourishes and comforts; another that chokes, smothers, and isolates. Solitary confinement is the worst kind of imprisonment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-beck/silence-comes-in-two-varieties-one-that-nourishes-and-comforts/) [Martha Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-beck/) > [“...Rusche and Kirchheimer relate the different systems of punishment with the systems of production within which they operate: thus, in a slave economy, punitive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/rusche-and-kirchheimer-relate-the-different-systems-of-punishment/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“WILL ALIGNMENT Despot's ultimate goal, using terror as his tool in trade = Corporal punishment in schools Kamil Ali”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamil-ali/will-alignment-despot-s-ultimate-goal-using-terror-as-his-tool-in/) [Kamil Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamil-ali/) > [“In short, the right given to one man to inflict corporal punishment on another is one of the ulcers of society, one of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/in-short-the-right-given-to-one-man-to-inflict-corporal-punishment-on/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [Any form of corporal punishment or 'spanking' is a violent attack upon another human being's integrity. The effect remains with the victim forever and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-montagu/any-form-of-corporal-punishment-or-spanking-is-a-violent-attack-upon/) [Ashley Montagu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-montagu/) > [We could say that people who eat grits, listen to country music, follow stock-car racing, support corporal punishment in the schools, hunt 'possum, go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelton-reed/we-could-say-that-people-who-eat-grits-listen-to-country-music-follow/) [John Shelton Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelton-reed/) > [“This was a cruelty made by history. Long after serfdom had been abolished the land captains exercised their right to flog the peasants for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orlando-figes/this-was-a-cruelty-made-by-history-long-after-serfdom-had-been/) [Orlando Figes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orlando-figes/) > [“He also administered the school's corporal punishment known as The Wacks - which I was told, involved being hit with a big gym shoe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/he-also-administered-the-school-s-corporal-punishment-known-as-the/) [David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/) > [In my family, my earliest memory of you get out of line is - BAM! It was a lot of corporal punishment. But you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rzeznik/in-my-family-my-earliest-memory-of-you-get-out-of-line-is-bam-it-was/) [John Rzeznik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rzeznik/) > [“There's no corporal punishment here, or any other form of punishment for that matter, and the children are encouraged to speak up for themselves.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-r-braithwaite/there-s-no-corporal-punishment-here-or-any-other-form-of-punishment/) [E.R. Braithwaite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-r-braithwaite/) > [“Gates got up, but not fast or jerkily, with the same slowness that had always characterized him. He wiped the sweat off his palms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornell-woolrich/gates-got-up-but-not-fast-or-jerkily-with-the-same-slowness-that-had/) [Cornell Woolrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornell-woolrich/) > [When will you Australians learn? In America we stopped using corporal punishment, and things have never been better! The streets are safe. Old people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/homer-simpson/when-will-you-australians-learn-in-america-we-stopped-using-corporal/) [Homer Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/homer-simpson/) > [Spare the rod and spoil the child.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/spare-the-rod-and-spoil-the-child/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) ## More by Michel Foucault > [One should try to locate power at the extreme of its exercise, where it is always less legal in character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-should-try-to-locate-power-at-the-extreme-of-its-exercise-where/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [The book is not simply the object that one holds in one's hands, and it cannot remain within the little parallelpiped that contains it:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-book-is-not-simply-the-object-that-one-holds-in-one-s-hands-and/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Death left its old tragic heaven and became the lyrical core of man: his invisible truth, his visible secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/death-left-its-old-tragic-heaven-and-became-the-lyrical-core-of-man/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [I'm no prophet. My job is making windows where there were once walls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/i-m-no-prophet-my-job-is-making-windows-where-there-were-once-walls/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Let us ask... how things work at the level of on-going subjugation, at the level of those continuous and uninterrupted processes which subject our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/let-us-ask-how-things-work-at-the-level-of-on-going-subjugation-at/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [What makes power hold good, what makes it accepted, is simply the fact that it doesn't only weigh on us as a force that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/what-makes-power-hold-good-what-makes-it-accepted-is-simply-the-fact/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“It was a matter of showing by what conjunctions a whole set of practices-- from the moment they became coordinated with a regime of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/it-was-a-matter-of-showing-by-what-conjunctions-a-whole-set-of/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“The preferred medications were those that forestalled corruption. We know 'as a result of more than three thousand years of experience that Myrrh and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-preferred-medications-were-those-that-forestalled-corruption-we/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“The man described for us, whom we are invited to free, is already in himself the effect of a subjection much more profound than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-man-described-for-us-whom-we-are-invited-to-free-is-already-in/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“Confined on the ship, from which there is no escape, the madman is delivered to the river with its thousand arms, the sea with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/confined-on-the-ship-from-which-there-is-no-escape-the-madman-is/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Believe what is productive is not sedentary but nomadic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/believe-what-is-productive-is-not-sedentary-but-nomadic/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Are the prisons overpopulated, or is the population over-imprisoned ?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/are-the-prisons-overpopulated-or-is-the-population-over-imprisoned/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [An American professor complained that a crypto-Marxist like me was invited in the USA, and I was denounced by the press in Eastern European…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/an-american-professor-complained-that-a-crypto-marxist-like-me-was/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Withdraw allegiance from the old categories of the Negative (law, limit, castration, lack, lacuna), which the Western thought has so long held sacred as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/withdraw-allegiance-from-the-old-categories-of-the-negative-law-limit/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [This non-proletarianised plebs has been racialist when it has been colonialist; it has been nationalist - chauvinist - when it has been armed; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/this-non-proletarianised-plebs-has-been-racialist-when-it-has-been/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) [Explore all 272 Michel Foucault quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## More Corporal punishment quotes > [Spare the rod and spoil the child.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/spare-the-rod-and-spoil-the-child/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) > [When will you Australians learn? In America we stopped using corporal punishment, and things have never been better! The streets are safe. Old people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/homer-simpson/when-will-you-australians-learn-in-america-we-stopped-using-corporal/) [Homer Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/homer-simpson/) > [“Gates got up, but not fast or jerkily, with the same slowness that had always characterized him. He wiped the sweat off his palms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornell-woolrich/gates-got-up-but-not-fast-or-jerkily-with-the-same-slowness-that-had/) [Cornell Woolrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornell-woolrich/) > [“There's no corporal punishment here, or any other form of punishment for that matter, and the children are encouraged to speak up for themselves.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-r-braithwaite/there-s-no-corporal-punishment-here-or-any-other-form-of-punishment/) [E.R. Braithwaite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-r-braithwaite/) > [In my family, my earliest memory of you get out of line is - BAM! It was a lot of corporal punishment. But you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rzeznik/in-my-family-my-earliest-memory-of-you-get-out-of-line-is-bam-it-was/) [John Rzeznik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rzeznik/) > [“He also administered the school's corporal punishment known as The Wacks - which I was told, involved being hit with a big gym shoe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/he-also-administered-the-school-s-corporal-punishment-known-as-the/) [David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/) > [“This was a cruelty made by history. Long after serfdom had been abolished the land captains exercised their right to flog the peasants for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orlando-figes/this-was-a-cruelty-made-by-history-long-after-serfdom-had-been/) [Orlando Figes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orlando-figes/) > [We could say that people who eat grits, listen to country music, follow stock-car racing, support corporal punishment in the schools, hunt 'possum, go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelton-reed/we-could-say-that-people-who-eat-grits-listen-to-country-music-follow/) [John Shelton Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelton-reed/) > [Any form of corporal punishment or 'spanking' is a violent attack upon another human being's integrity. The effect remains with the victim forever and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-montagu/any-form-of-corporal-punishment-or-spanking-is-a-violent-attack-upon/) [Ashley Montagu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-montagu/) > [“In short, the right given to one man to inflict corporal punishment on another is one of the ulcers of society, one of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/in-short-the-right-given-to-one-man-to-inflict-corporal-punishment-on/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [“WILL ALIGNMENT Despot's ultimate goal, using terror as his tool in trade = Corporal punishment in schools Kamil Ali”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamil-ali/will-alignment-despot-s-ultimate-goal-using-terror-as-his-tool-in/) [Kamil Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamil-ali/) > [“Do not make the spanking a joke. Don't make it playful. Give him proper corporal punishment. It starts by setting the right tone. Let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-lawson/do-not-make-the-spanking-a-joke-don-t-make-it-playful-give-him-proper/) Rebecca Lawson > [“And why are you so firmly, so triumphantly, convinced that only the normal and the positive--in other words, only what is conducive to welfare--is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/and-why-are-you-so-firmly-so-triumphantly-convinced-that-only-the/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [I think corporal punishment is the shortest, most impatient, flawed way of teaching or making a child understand something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ranvir-shorey/i-think-corporal-punishment-is-the-shortest-most-impatient-flawed-way/) [Ranvir Shorey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ranvir-shorey/) > [“Gilda: How severe is the corporal punishment here? Mrs. McCracken: Honey, nobody's going to spank you here. Don't worry.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-allison/gilda-how-severe-is-the-corporal-punishment-here-mrs-mccracken-honey/) [Jennifer Allison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-allison/) [Browse all 46 Corporal punishment quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corporal-punishment/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment – mere loss of liberty – has never functioned without a certain additional element of punishment that certainly concerns the body itself: rationing of food, sexual deprivation, corporal punishment, solitary confinement … There remains, therefore, a trace of ‘torture’ in the modern mechanisms of criminal justice – a trace that has not been entirely overcome, but which is enveloped, increasingly, by the non-corporal nature of the penal system”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michel Foucault" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-even-imprisonment-mere-loss-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Corporal punishment" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-even-imprisonment-mere-loss-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/michel-foucault-1134_corporal-punishment_but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-e_10203.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/michel-foucault-1134_corporal-punishment_but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-e_10203.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/michel-foucault-1134_corporal-punishment_but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-e_10203.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment – mere loss of liberty – has never functioned…” — Michel Foucault", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Michel Foucault", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“But a punishment like forced labour...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-even-imprisonment-mere-loss-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-even-imprisonment-mere-loss-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```