Gender and class in English asylums, 1890-1914
By: Louise Hide Honorary Research Fellow, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; Springer
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9781137321428
Subjects: Asylums; History; Women; Social conditions; Social classes; HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain; HISTORY / Modern / 19th Century; HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century; HISTORY / Social History; PSYCHOLOGY / History
Description: "The Victorian period saw an unprecedented rise in the number of people who were committed to 'lunatic asylums'. We know something of why this happened, but far less about what life was like inside these institutions. Louise Hide explores the influence of wider socio-economic change and new medical theories on the practices and processes, routines and rhythms of the asylum as it began its transition to the mental hospital. What made the patient admission process so traumatic? How did attendants respond to the arrival of female nurses on male wards? Why were so many doctors on the verge of a breakdown themselves? In this meticulously researched and intriguing work, Hide has opened a chink through which to glimpse the lives of patients, doctors and nursing staff inside two vast London county asylums during the turn of the twentieth century"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: Introduction1. The Making of the Patient Population2. Medical Officers3. Attendants and Nurses4. The Asylum Regime5. From Asylum to Mental Hospital6. Ward LifeConclusion.