Disordered lives
Subtitle: eighteenth-century families and their unruly relatives
By: Catharina Lis and Hugo Soly ; translated by Alexander Brown.
Contributors: Soly, Hugo.
Publisher: Polity Press; Blackwell Publishers [distributor]
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; Cambridge, MA, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 230
Subjects: Social control -- Benelux countries -- History -- 18th century; Inmates of institutions -- Benelux countries -- Family relationships -- History -- 18th century; Asylums -- Benelux countries -- History -- 18th century; Family -- Benelux countries -- History -- 18th century; Benelux countries -- Social conditions -- 18th century
Description: Why did families in the past request that some of their members be forcibly removed from their midst and locked away? What social conditions lay behind the drama of enforced removal and confinement that was played out between family members and their unruly relatives?

Through their analysis of thousands of case histories in Brabant and Flanders the authors are able to shed light on the material and emotional survival strategies of the growing number of urban families who were requesting the confinement of one of their own members, and to relate those personal decisions to the changes taking place within the urban communities. Disordered Lives is a penetrating study of rebellious youths, adulterous women, alcoholics and violent husbands.

In contrast to other 'troublemakers' who have left no trace, these ones have made history. They showed their contemporaries and later generations where the limits of the permissible lay - and why.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.