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Overview"The untold story of how hereditary data in mental hospitals gave rise to the science of human heredityIn the early 1800s, a century before there was any concept of the gene, physicians in insane asylums began to record causes of madness in their admission books. Almost from the beginning, they pointed to heredity as the most important of these causes. As doctors and state officials steadily lost faith in the capacity of asylum care to stem the terrible increase of insanity, they began emphasizing the need to curb the reproduction of the insane. They became obsessed with identifying weak or tainted families and anticipating the outcomes of their marriages. Genetics in the Madhouse is the untold story of how the collection and sorting of hereditary data in mental hospitals, schools for ""feebleminded"" children, and prisons gave rise to a new science of human heredity.In this compelling book, Theodore Porter draws on untapped archival evidence from across Europe and North America to bring to light the hidden history behind modern genetics. He looks at the institutional use of pedigree charts, censuses of mental illness, medical-social surveys, and other data techniques--innovative quantitative practices that were worked out in the madhouse long before the manipulation of DNA became possible in the lab. Porter argues that asylum doctors developed many of the ideologies and methods of what would come to be known as eugenics, and deepens our appreciation of the moral issues at stake in data work conducted on the border of subjectivity and science.A bold rethinking of asylum work, Genetics in the Madhouse shows how heredity was a human science as well as a medical and biological one." Full Product DetailsAuthor: Theodore M. PorterPublisher: Princeton University Press Imprint: Princeton University Press Edition: New edition ISBN: 9780691164540ISBN 10: 0691164541 Pages: 464 Publication Date: 05 June 2018 Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , General , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Temporarily unavailable  The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you. Language: English Table of ContentsReviews[Some] parts of the genetics story are fascinating and scary. . . . Porter . . . uses data collection in psychiatric hospitals to show the stakes when research straddles subjectivity and science. --Liz Else and Simon Ings, New Scientist Fascinating but scary. Genetics in the Madhouse . . . uses date collection in psychiatric hospitals to show the stages when research straddles subjectivity and science.. --Liz Else and Simon Ings, New Scientist [Some] parts of the genetics story are fascinating and scary. . . . Porter . . . uses data collection in psychiatric hospitals to show the stakes when research straddles subjectivity and science. --Liz Else and Simon Ings, New Scientist Author InformationTheodore M. Porter is Distinguished Professor of History and holds the Peter Reill Chair at the University of California, Los Angeles. His books include Karl Pearson: The Scientific Life in a Statistical Age, Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life, and The Rise of Statistical Thinking, 18201900 (all Princeton). He lives in Altadena, California. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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