meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Overthink

Discipline

Overthink

Ellie Anderson, Ph.D. and David Peña-Guzmán, Ph.D.

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Education

4.7549 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With the rise of hustle culture, the grind, and capitalist productivity, we often associate discipline with toxicity. But is there still value in disciplining oneself? In episode 169 of Overthink, Ellie and David take a disciplined approach to this question and more! They discuss modern culture’s rejection of discipline and how this manifests on the left vs the right, the association between discipline and punishment, and Michel Foucault’s seminal ideas on disciplinary power. How can we discipline children without resorting to punishment? And are there models of self-discipline that aren’t rooted in punishment of the self? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss Sandra Bartky’s argument that gender norms are a modern form of disciplinary power.

 

Works Discussed:

Joan E. Durrant and Ashley Stewart-Tufescu. “What is “Discipline” in the Age of Children’s Rights?.”

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish

Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality

Adekunle A. Ibrahim and Philomena A. Ojomo. “Discipline and Punishment in Schools: A Philosophical Appraisal.”


Enjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3v

Join our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to Overthink.

0:19.0

The podcast that disciplines your mind by connecting big ideas to everyday life.

0:24.8

I'm Ellie Anderson.

0:26.3

And I'm David Peña Guzman.

0:28.0

As always, for an ad-free extended version of this episode, community discussion and more,

0:32.6

subscribe to Overthink on Substack.

0:35.8

David, discipline gets a pretty bad rep these days.

0:40.1

At least this has been the case, I would say, for a number of years, where there's

0:43.6

been a lot of attention paid to the toxic elements of hustle culture, the grind,

0:48.9

capitalist productivity, and so on.

0:51.0

These have been a lot of the things we've talked about on Overthink over the years.

0:55.2

And I think with this increasing attention to like those toxic elements of the hustle and the

1:01.1

grind, there has also been an implication of discipline as one of the culprits, this idea of

1:07.2

discipline as basically policing people's behavior and forcing us into this capitalist

1:13.0

mold. And in contrast, there's been a lot of attention recently to rest as an alternative

1:19.2

to this hustle culture, letting go of self-judgment and just like taking a nap or bed rotting

1:24.5

as something we're entitled to. From that perspective, right, discipline seems like

1:29.6

one of the bad guys. I'm thinking, too, about parenting. Parenting has become far more

1:34.7

permissive than in the past. We'll come back to that later. People are quiet quitting their jobs.

1:40.9

Stereotypes of Gen Z in the workplace also suggest that young adults today can't handle

1:45.4

any discipline whatsoever. So like the boomer bosses are like, these Gen Z employees won't

1:52.0

even be held accountable in showing up. They're just like ghosting their jobs or showing up late,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ellie Anderson, Ph.D. and David Peña-Guzmán, Ph.D., and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ellie Anderson, Ph.D. and David Peña-Guzmán, Ph.D. and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.