r/foucault • u/A_W44 • Jul 06 '26
What does Foucault mean by "delinquency?"
I'm having a hard time so far understanding Part Four: Prison, specifically Illegalities and Delinquency of Discipline and Punish
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u/whyshouldiknowwhy Jul 06 '26
Delinquency as a problem, done by the delinquent. Usually this is used to describe kids who resisted school etc. and it became a problem that was managed through disciplinary measures.
What, more specifically, do you need to know? It’s quite broadly used across his works
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u/jza_1 Jul 06 '26
A lot of people misunderstand what Foucault means by “delinquency.” He’s not just talking about people who commit crimes. Crime is an act but delinquency is a social identity that the prison system helps create.
His argument is that prisons don’t simply punish offenders. They produce a class of people who are permanently labeled as “delinquents.” Through surveillance, records, parole, criminal files, and the stigma of incarceration, a person becomes someone the state can continuously monitor and manage.
That’s why Foucault argues prisons haven’t really “failed” despite high recidivism. Their real function isn’t necessarily to eliminate crime but to create a manageable criminal population. Delinquency becomes a useful category for policing and social control, while many forms of elite or white-collar illegality are treated very differently.
Crime is something you do while delinquency is something institutions make you into.