Madness and Civilization by Michel Foucault — Summary, Key Ideas & Quotes

Foucault argues that 'madness' is not a timeless or universal category, but a concept shaped by cultural, social, and historical forces. What one era or society calls madness, another might see as eccentricity or even insight. By examining shifting attitudes from the Renaissance to the modern age, Foucault shows that definitions of insanity are deeply entwined with prevailing social norms and anxieties.

A central episode in the book is the 'Great Confinement' of the seventeenth century, when European societies began locking away not just the mentally ill, but a wide range of marginalized people—beggars, criminals, and the idle—under the guise of moral and social order. Foucault sees this as a turning point: madness became something to be isolated and controlled, rather than integrated or tolerated.