The Borderland of Imbecility

"This book exploits a rich variety of archival sources, particularly from the Sandlebridge Colony in Cheshire, and a wide range of contemporary medical, educational and parliamentary material. Arguing that compulsory segregation served a multitude of social, political and professional ends, successive chapters explore key themes: the birth of the concept of a 'borderland of imbecility' in the late nineteenth century; the emergence of new institutional facilities at the turn of the century; the medicalisation of the feeble mind; the conflation of the feeble-minded; with criminals, prostitutes and paupers; the educational and occupational strategies designed to reclaim the feeble-minded, and the statutory measures framed to regulate the borderland in 1913 and 1914." "The Borderland of Imbecility constitutes a major contribution to the social history of medicine, and offers a critical insight into the origins of institutional care for the feeble-minded."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved