Psychological Subjects: Identity, Culture, and Health in Twentieth-Century Britain

by Mathew Thomson

Overview

Psychological Subjects is a broad-ranging and original historical study of how psychological thinking developed as a feature of life in twentieth-century Britain. Ranging from the excitement about a new age at the start of the century to the permissive society of the 1970s, it offers us a new picture of how Britons of the period came to think about

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199287802
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/27/2006
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	9.21(w) x 6.14(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

University of Warwick

Table of Contents

IntroductionI. Psychologies of the New Age1. Practical Psychology2. Reframing the Discipline3. After the New AgeII. Prospects and Problems4. Psychology and Education5. Psychology and the Problem of Industrial Civilization6. Medicine and the PsychologicalIII. Ends7. Psychology and the Mid-Century Crisis8. Towards the Permissive SocietyConclusionBibliographyIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Mathew Thomson's highly illuminating books should be especially welcomed because it is one of the very first to think big (and broadly) in asserting psychology's relevance to twentieth-century British history as a whole....This book is a very good and important contribution to what one hopes will be a developing attention to the role of psychology in mainstream twentieth-century history."—Jeremy Nuttall, American Historical Review

"Scholarly and well researched....This text clearly stands as the most significant account to date of the social policies developed for those labelled as mentally and socially deficient."—Joseph Melling, Economic History Review

"Thomson's book should be read by all of those who want to understand better the often-repeated claim that the twentieth century saw the emergence of the psychological society."—Alan Collins, Journal of British Studies

"This is a finely detailed, extensively researched and clearly narrated monograph that explores the historical backwaters of mental deficiency policies, particularly in the middle decades of the twentieth century...Thomson succinctly exposes the ways in which the policies and administrative strategies employed by a variety of constituents were influenced not only by party politics but also by the class, gender, religious, professional, and economic interests of local and national actors...[A] first-rate contribution to the neglected history of mental deficiency and social policy, one that sets a benchmark for future studies."—Mark Jackson, Social History of Medicine

"[F]irst comprehensive study of mental deficiency...Thomson's complex, intriguing narrative...is an important statement that provides a welcome perspective on contemporary argument about the consequences of the deinstitutionalization of mental health services since the 1960's."—Richard A. Soloway, Albion

"[I]ts great strength lies in its careful portrayal of the continual rounds of conflicts and negotiations that underlay the treatment of the mentally deficient...Thomson makes a good case that the very existence in Britain of so many competing groups prevented it from embracing the extremist eugenic measures of neighbouring states."—Angus McLaren, EHR

From the Publisher