The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science: Phrenology and the Organization of Consent in Nineteenth-Century Britain

by Roger Cooter

Overview

This study of the popularity of phrenology in the second quarter of the nineteenth century concentrates on the social and ideological functions of science during the consolidation of urban industrial society. It is influenced by Foucault, by recent work in the history and sociology of science, by critical theory, and by cultural anthropology. The author analyses the impact of science on Victorian society across a spectrum from the intellectual establishment to working-class freethinkers and Owenite socialists. In doing so he provides the first extended treatment of the place and role of science among working-class radicals. The book also challenges attempts to establish neat demarcations between scientific ideas and their philosophical, theological and social contexts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521673297
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/30/2005
Series:	Cambridge Studies in the History of Medicine
Pages:	436
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 9.02(h) x 1.06(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Preface; Note on sources and abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. Historiography: 1. From out the cerebral well; Part II. Science and Social Interests: 2. The social sense of brain; 3. The rites of passage; Part III. Popular Science: 4. George Combe and the remolding of man's constitution; 5. The poacher turned gamekeeper: phrenologists abroad; 6. Secular methodism; Part IV. Radical Appropriation and Critique: 7. Richard Carlile and infidel science; 8. On standing socialism on its head; Conclusion; Appendix; Notes; Manuscript sources and public documents; Phrenological journals; Bibliographical index; General index.