Definitions HQ

Punishment (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a complex social function which must be examined not only through its negative aspects but also for its useful effect in the history of the human sciences.

Punishment (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠about power and social control. The elite utilize punishment to its best effect in a tactical manner to control the population and maintain order and their own power.

Punishment (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠carried out in such a way as to give a spectacle not of measure, but of imbalance and excess : Not a superiority of 'right' but that of the physical strength of the sovereign beating down upon the body of his adversary and mastering it.

Punishment (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠directed above all not at the guilty one, but at others, at all the potentially guilty.

Punishment (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not only about repressive power, but also about its relation to the development of knowledge and to subject creation (the process through which human beings are made into subjects).

Punishment (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only one element in the 'gratification-punishment' double system of disciplinary power, whereby 'good ' becomes aligned with dominant normative acts and expectations (and is rewarded and valorized) and 'bad' with deviation from this norm (and is punished, marginalized, made unnatural, and criminal).

Punishment (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠targeted to the whole of society through the intermediary of the criminal, particularly to any member of society prone to behavior similar to that of the criminal.