Discipline and Punish vs La Société du spectacle: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Philosophy, History
Discipline and Punish
“On 2 March 1757 Damiens the regicide condemmed 'to make the amende honorable before the main door of the Church of Paris', where he was to be 'taken and conveyed in a cart, wearing nothing but a a shirt, holding a torch of burning wax weighing two pounds'; then, 'in the said cart, to the place de Greve, where, on a scaffold that will be erected there, the flesh will be torn from his breasts, arms,”
English version of "Surveiller et punir: naissance de la prison"
vs
La Société du spectacle
“IN SOCIETIES dominated by modern conditions of production, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles.”
Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative as Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle. From its publication amid the social upheavals of the 1960s up to the present, the volatile…
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- La Société du spectacle is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 6 for Discipline and Punish.
- La Société du spectacle has the widest readership — 24378 ratings behind its score.
Scores by source
| Discipline and Punish | La Société du spectacle | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 4.0 (24378) |
| Hardcover | 4.2 (62) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (24) | — |
Reception
| Discipline and Punish | La Société du spectacle | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 62 | 24378 |
| Editions | 30 | 52 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Wikipedia attention | 6210 | 726 |
| Pages | 333 | 167 |