Foucault's docile bodyMichel Foucault's “Docile Bodies”, contained in his most extensive work, Discipline and Punish, astutely proposes the concept that the systems and processes that we as a society we create and even produce have developed a certain power to model, form and manipulate the human body, thus creating what Foucault calls the “docile body”. He argues that through the shift from viewing the body as a whole (“wholesale”) to dividing it into many levels of utility (“retail”), an incredible amount of power over the body has been gained. He argues that the optimization of every feature, movement and process of the body is dictated by objects that prevent the body from performing more creative (and inefficient) movements and tasks. Through the breakdown of tasks into increasingly specialized and precisely prescribed movements, creativity fades and we become limited by our own creations. The docile body can be shaped, formed and manipulated into a disciplined and submissive state of efficiency. Foucault defends his claim through examples of how both views and the utility of the body – in secondary education, followed by hospitals and finally by soldiers in the military – have been modified throughout history. Discusses the involvement of religious education in this sequence, which required attention to detail. Foucault uses an illustration of the progression of the born soldier into the modern soldier whose body is disciplined to stand erect with the shoulders back and the head facing forward. Foucault's argument arises from the idea that, among other things, it is the shape of the wall against which the soldiers are forced to stand that trains their sagging bodies to stand and hold them... middle of paper.. .. ..http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/hunting/principles/fair-chase-hunting.htm>.Foucault, Michael. “Docile bodies”. Foucault's reader. Ed. Paolo Rabinow. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. Print."Hunting." American Masculinities: A Historical Encyclopedia. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2003. Creed Reference. Network. April 10, 2011.Paulson, Nels. Sustainable hunting: the production of governable space through global civil society. Diss. Arizona State University, 2009. Dissertations and Theses: Full Text, ProQuest. Network. April 2, 2011.Swan, James A. In Defense of Hunting. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. Print. “Sports.” New Oxford American Dictionary. 2009.United States of America. Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Department of Wildlife. Regulations. 07 April 2011. Web. 18 April. 2011. .