[[File:Michel Foucault.jpg|thumbnail|200px|right|Michel Foucault]]
'''Michel Foucault''' (born June 15, 1926, Poitiers, France; d. June 25, 1984, Paris) , birth-name '''Paul-Michel Foucault''', was a [[France|French]] [[philosopher]] and [[historian]] associated with [[post-structuralism]] whose work in the study of the cultural bases of [[sexuality]], [[psychology]] and [[criminology]] was broadly influential within and beyond the academy. Regarded as a left-wing icon and a "gay" icon, Foucault can be best classified as a sociopath rather than a socialist, insofar as there is any consistency in his ideas.
There is no other explanation for his eccentric insistence on the similarity between such disparate institutions as schools, hospitals, factories, prisons and barracks. It is notable that while he insisted on their resemblance, he himself chose to live in universities, not in a prison, factory or barracks. Foucault was an [[atheist]].<ref>Religion and Culture
Por Michel Foucault,Jeremy Carrette, page 15.[https://books.google.com.br/books?id=eb_bAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=michel+foucault+atheist&source=bl&ots=67uP-ChaCl&sig=mLUd0YGYErlHqqWcKC0h-8uN2oA&hl=pt-BR&sa=X&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAmoVChMI45KPs8jvxgIVgYGQCh3z2wg7#v=onepage&q=michel%20foucault%20atheist&f=false]</ref> See also: [[Atheism and postmodernism]]