1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910484084103321

Autore

Ellis Robert

Titolo

London and its Asylums, 1888-1914 : Politics and Madness / / by Robert Ellis

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2020

ISBN

3-030-44432-5

Edizione

[1st ed. 2020.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (304 pages) : illustrations

Collana

Mental Health in Historical Perspective, , 2634-6036

Disciplina

362.21094212

362.20942109034

Soggetti

Social history

Cities and towns - History

Medicine - History

Social History

Urban History

History of Medicine

History of Britain and Ireland

Great Britain History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Chapter 1: ‘The Mere Scope of it is Immense’. London and its Asylums in Context -- Chapter 2: The Politics of Administration -- Chapter 3: The Politics of Finance -- Chapter 4: The Politics of Innovation -- Chapter 5: The Politics of Architecture -- Chapter 6: The Politics of Difference -- Chapter 7: Conclusions.

Sommario/riassunto

'This is an important and timely contribution to the politics of mental health. Ellis’s forensic dissection of the politics and finance of asylums in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century London demonstrates the evolution of asylum and mental health care but also provides a nuanced account of local government and welfare activism in this period. This book is highly recommended for those interested not only in the history of mental health care, but also the sometimes internecine conflicts which underpinned urban government in the Victorian and Edwardian eras.' –Professor Heather Shore, Director of MCPHH,



Department of History, Politics and Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK This book explores the impact that politics had on the management of mental health care at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 1888 and the introduction of the Local Government Act marked a turning point in which democratically elected bodies became responsible for the management of madness for the first time. With its focus on London in the period leading up to the First World War, it offers a new way to look at institutions and to consider their connections to wider issues that were facing the capital and the nation. The chapters that follow place London at the heart of international networks and debates relating to finance, welfare, architecture, scientific and medical initiatives, and the developing responses to immigrant populations. Overall, it shines a light on the relationships between mental health policies and other ideological priorities.