The Problem of Mental Deficiency Eugenics, Democracy, and Social Policy in Britain c. 1870-1959

by Thomson, Mathew

• ISBN13: 9780198206927
• ISBN10: 0198206925
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-05-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This is the first full study of the great alarm about "mental defectives" in Britain between 1870 and 1959, and the resulting policies of segregation, community care, and sexual sterilization. Mathew Thomson examines the origins of these policies in central government and shows how they were put into practice by health professionals and local authorities. He reveals how policy-makers avoided extremist measures such as compulsory sterilization (introduced in Germany and parts of the US during this period), not for reasons of liberal principle but because of the socially conservative and anti-interventionlist nature of British political culture.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	viii
Introduction	1	(35)
1. The Parliamentary Politics of Mental Deficiency	36	(41)
2. The Board of Control	77	(33)
3. The Colony Solution	110	(39)
4. The Community Care Solution	149	(31)
5. The Sterilization Solution	180	(26)
6. The Geography of Mental Deficiency	206	(33)
7. The Micro-Politics of Mental Deficiency	239	(31)
8. Mental Deficiency and the Welfare State	270	(27)
Conclusion	297	(9)
Appendix: The Number of Mental Defectives under Various Forms of Provision	306	(1)
Select Bibliography	307	(36)
Index	343