Exam preparation from 2007 in the field of Sociology - Social System, Social Structure, Class, Stratification, Free University of Berlin. Language: German. Abstract: In "Discipline and Punish," Foucault questions the reasons that have led to the dominance of imprisonment as a general form of punishment since the late 18th century, despite being deemed unsuitable by many critics, as imprisonment was seen as promoting crime. The idea of understanding prison as a place for the rehabilitation of offenders was abandoned around 1840, as it became more useful for prisoners to become delinquents. When someone enters prison, a machine of shame is immediately set in motion, and after release, the former inmate must either re-offend or...